


Where the Wind Hits Heavy

by faithharkness



Series: Diversions [16]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: AU-everybody lives, Aftermath of Torture, Canon-Typical Violence, Consensual Sex, DarkBlue, Electrocution, Established Relationship, F/M, Force Lightning, Hurt/Comfort, JediPilot, M/M, Non-Consensual Touching, Oral Sex, Psychological Torture, Shaving, Snark, Threat of Non-Consensual sexual conduct, Torture, Torture with knives, Whipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-27
Updated: 2016-04-21
Packaged: 2018-05-23 10:46:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 31,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6114109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faithharkness/pseuds/faithharkness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a routine intel-gathering mission goes wrong, Poe Dameron is taken by the First Order.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Blink (Poe)

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place down the timeline in the Diversions 'verse. Say, roughly six to ten months after "Princesses Who Never Miss". Ben has overcome his brainwashing (and is warily accepted by the Resistance) and Luke is training Rey. Poe and Rey are an established couple (but don't get Luke started on that).
> 
> The first three chapters are completely written and I'm going to try very hard to do regular (read: every couple of days) updates.
> 
> And finally, the torture is going to be _awful_ , but I am going to keep the explicit details to a single chapter and I will heavily warn for it so you can skip it if it's triggering.
> 
> Wait, one more: title from the song _Girl from the North Country_ by Bob Dylan.

Poe’s mother always used to warn him that things could change in the blink of an eye, and he needed to be ready for it. When he was very small, he had thought that meant that if he didn’t move quickly, one day Papa actually _would_ get his nose. 

One day, he blinked and there was a boy with long limbs and flyaway hair standing next to his tree, looking lonelier than anyone Poe had ever met. He had taught the boy to climb trees and laugh until his belly hurt. One night, he blinked while Mama was singing his lullaby and then General Organa was there telling him Mama wasn’t coming home. He blinked, and he was leaving behind the Republic Navy to join the Resistance. Another blink, and he was in charge of two squadrons and quickly earning the reputation of the greatest pilot in the Resistance. 

One night, he blinked and found himself face-to-helmet with the First Order’s fiercest interrogator. Another blink, and he was free, but burdened with the knowledge that his torturer had once been his friend. Another blink, and his heart was lost to a fierce Jedi with a fragile strength that made his breath catch.

All told, Poe was very careful about when he blinked.  
*****

“This is _bad_ ,” Poe whispered.

“I’m officially going to petition to have your call sign changed to ‘Captain Obvious’,” Jess replied, her voice low.

“If we live through this.”

“How did they know we’d be here?” Jess asked, staring at the platoon of stormtroopers making their way to the bazaar. “ _We_ didn’t even know we’d be here.”

“Exponentially bad luck?” he asked. They had come, escorting the General to this small trading outpost to pick up intel left behind for them by their deep-cover source within the First Order. They hadn’t even known this was their final destination until they’d picked up these coordinates at their last stopover. Poe was starting to have a sinking feeling that, perhaps, their spy wasn’t as well-covered as they had thought.

Jess snorted. “No way we’re making it back to our shuttle.”

“Not all of us.”

Jess’ hand snapped out to grab Poe’s upper arm, her nails digging in hard enough to bruise. “Don’t even _think_ about it.”

He turned and smiled at her. “Honestly, Pava, it’s like you _know_ me.”

“As far as we know, the rendezvous point isn’t compromised. We go there, we meet up with the others and form a plan we can all live with. You are not alone on a mission this time.”

He nodded solemnly. “All right.”

“Good. Come on, let’s go.”  
*****

“That is a _terrible_ plan!” Finn said.

“You have said that to every plan. We have to _pick one_ ,” Snap replied.

“Or, we could keep hiding out in the back of this shop and hope for the best,” Jess said, dryly. 

“Children,” Leia scolded, fed up. They had been arguing for 20 minutes and the longer they waited, the better the chances the stormtroopers would find them. Their shuttle was still intact, sitting quietly in the hangar. All signs seemed to point to the fact that the First Order didn’t know five members of the Resistance were hiding in the outpost.

“The General’s right. We’re lucky they haven’t found us already,” Snap said.

“They have to be here for something else. No way it takes them this long to find us if they were here for a search and capture,” Finn added.

“What he said,” Poe added.

“I vote that Snap, Poe and I cause a distraction while the General and Finn sneak off to the shuttle. We have to be sure they don’t get their hands on two of our Force-wielders,” Jess said.

“I’m just sensitive,” Finn corrected.

“You carry a lightsaber,” Poe pointed out. “As far as anyone’s concerned, you’re a wielder. End of argument,” he finished, holding up a finger as Finn opened his mouth to argue again.

“They’ll need a pilot,” Jess said. “Begging pardon, ma’am, but it’s been a while since you had to fly for your life and, well…Finn.”

“She’s right,” Finn agreed.

“I usually am.”

Poe sighed. “Fine, Jess, you go with Finn and Gen—”

“Nope,” Jess interrupted. “I am a far better shot than Snap—”

“Hey!”

“ _Outside_ the cockpit,” she amended. “I’m also quite good at making things go boom.”

Leia rolled her eyes. “Now I know why you’re Han’s favorite.”

Jess smirked. “And here I thought it was because—”

“I am _begging_ you to not finish that sentence,” Finn cut in.

The pilot rolled her eyes. “I was going to say because I got Ben to wear something besides black, you pervert. Antilles must be rubbing off on you.”

Snap help up a hand and looked at Finn. “And I am begging _you_ to not get into this with her.”

“We don’t need to cause a distraction; we just need you to put your skills as a spy to use, Poe. Cover our exit and then get yourself and Jessika off-planet,” Leia said.

Everyone nodded agreement; Poe, grudgingly so. He didn’t like putting others in the line of fire.

“We have a plan; let’s execute it,” Leia said.

“I would just like to say, again, that this is a terrible plan,” Finn said.

“Duly noted, let’s go.”  
*****

“They made it to the shuttle,” Jess said. She and Poe were meandering just inside the hangar, hands clasped as they walked.

“So far, so good,” Poe whispered back.

“Halt!”

“Oh, you just had to open your mouth,” Jess muttered. 

“Keep walking,” Poe replied.

“You there!”

They halted and turned to see four stormtroopers approaching them. Their weapons were held loosely in their grips, indicating they didn’t recognize the two pilots. Also telling was the lack of backup for the stormtroopers.

“Where are you going?” one of the stormtroopers asked.

“Ship,” Jess replied in heavily-accented Basic.

“Yours?”

She held up a small coin purse. “Passage,” she replied.

“Which ship?”

Jess opened her mouth to answer, only to be cut off by an explosion going off just outside the hangar.

“I guess that’s our cue,” Poe said. When the stormtroopers turned to look, Jess and Poe took off running.

Jess checked to see if the stormtroopers were following them; once she realized they were, she fired her blaster at a seemingly innocuous pile of crates. The crates exploded with a great deal of fire and smoke, blocking the stormtroopers’ view of Poe and Jess’ escape route.

“Our turn now,” Jess said as they took off running for the small craft they had chosen for their escape. Poe had wanted to steal another TIE fighter; the others argued it would be too obvious.

“Why haven’t the others taken off yet?” Poe asked.

“Kriff, I hope no one disabled the shuttle.”

“Engines are firing up.”

“Oh, good. That just leaves—kriff!” Jess exclaimed as the ship she was planning to fly exploded.

She and Poe dodged to get behind a pile of engine parts. Poe exchanged a look with her. “You get on the shuttle. I’ll get to the other ship.”

“We should all go together, now,” Jess protested.

“The shuttle’s gonna need covering fire. _Go_ ,” he said, pulling her into a quick hug before pushing her toward the shuttle. “I’ll be right behind you.”

“You’d better be.”

Poe smiled at her before taking off in the other direction toward the old Y-wing he had scoped out. He watched Jess scramble up the shuttle’s ramp, just before it closed and the shuttle took off. He ran for the Y-wing, hoping the departing shuttle (which was flying as though it didn’t have a care in the world) would be enough of a distraction to cover his sprint.

His attention, and that of most of the stormtroopers, was caught by a large ship blasting its way out of the other end of the hangar. He grinned, before taking off again, thankful for the timely appearance of what had to be the First Order’s actual target. 

He had just gained the cockpit of the Y-wing when a hand grabbed him by the back of his jacket, pulling him back and throwing him to the ground. He shook his head to clear it and looked up into the silver mask of a stormtrooper.

“Well, well, well. What have we here?” Captain Phasma asked.

Poe blinked.


	2. Taken (Rey)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Resistance learns of Poe being taken, and plans are made.

Ben and Han were waiting on the landing field when the shuttle touched down at the Resistance base.

Leia exited the shuttle first, the others close behind. “Have you heard anything about Poe?”

Ben and Han looked at each other. “We’ve been trying to reach out to our sources, but nothing yet,” Han said.

“Damn it!” Pava said.

“It’s not your fault,” Finn soothed.

“I should have dragged him onto the shuttle behind me. Now Phasma has him.”

“What?” Ben asked. 

“I looked back for him through the window and saw Phasma pulling him off the Y-wing,” Jess explained.

It was then that Leia noticed who was missing. “Where’s Rey?”  
*****

Taken. Poe had been taken by the First Order. Again. And this time, there was no Finn to mount an escape. 

Rey tried very hard to keep her concentration on the star map in front of her, rather than her own screaming thoughts. She bit back a sob as she thought of Poe, alone amid the First Order.

“You need to control your emotions,” Luke said calmly from beside her.

Rey glared at him. “I know.”

“If you let your fear get away from you—”

Rey held up a hand. “This is about to become one of those times when I wholeheartedly agree with your nephew.”

Chewie wrapped an arm around Rey’s shoulders, growling over her head at Luke.

“They’re landing now; they should be in here shortly,” Admiral Statura said as he entered the briefing room. 

“Still no word about Dameron?” Rey asked.

“I’m sure the General will have more information.”

Rey nodded and shrugged off Chewie’s arm as she started to pace again.  
*****

Ben, Leia and Finn all paused when they reached the corridor leading to the briefing room.

“Wow,” Finn breathed.

“What? What’s going on?” Pava asked.

“Rey is…having a hard time controlling her emotions,” Ben explained. He turned to his mother. “Maybe I should wait out here; it won’t do well to remind her of my past with the Order.”

“Oh-ho _no_. If I have to be in there with them, _you_ have to be in there with them,” Finn said.

“I should have gone with Snap,” Ben muttered. 

Snap had hurried off to the hangar to begin pre-mission checks with his and Jess’ squadrons. He wanted to be sure they were ready to go as soon as they had a location on Poe.

Jess nudged Ben with an elbow. “Don’t worry about it, Solo. She’s going to be too busy trying not to Force-choke me for leaving Poe behind.”

“That’s not funny,” Ben said, his voice fierce.

“I make bad jokes when I’m nervous; you should know this by now,” she said, moving ahead of them to open the briefing room door.

“She’s right about that,” Han said to him, before following Leia into the room.  
*****

Rey tried really hard to remember her center and not rush General Organa as soon as the woman entered the room.

“Rey,” Leia said, her expression soft.

“How did this happen?” she asked.

Jessika rounded the briefing table and took Rey’s hands in hers. “Poe was covering our escape. He made it to a ship, but Phasma got to him before he could take off.”

“So there is no way they won’t know who they have,” Rey said.

“Which just means we have to move more quickly,” Finn said.

Jess shifted awkwardly.

“What is it, Commander Pava?” Luke asked.

“I think he thought he might get caught,” she replied, staring at Rey.

“What? How?” Rey asked.

Jess reached into her pocket and took out Poe’s ID tags, putting them in Rey’s hand. “I didn’t realize he had slipped them in my pocket until we were almost here.”

Rey closed her hand around the tags, squeezing until she was afraid she’d cut her palm. “We’ll get him back,” she said, fighting back tears.

“We will.”

“How?” Finn asked.

Jess and Rey turned equally harsh glares on him.

Finn held up his hands. “I am just trying to get us focused. It’s one thing to want him back; but I think we all realize that just going in shooting blasters at anything that moves is a truly bad idea.”

“The kid’s right; and I’m usually the one advocating shooting first,” Han said.

“I think the first thing we need to do is take a look at the data we picked up from our asset,” Leia said.

“That’s not the first thing we have to do,” Ben said.

“Why not?” Statura asked.

“The first thing we have to do is abandon this base. We need to pack up and get out of here,” he explained.

“Why?” Leia asked.

“You know why,” Ben replied, but he was looking at his uncle.

Luke nodded. “Dameron knows this base. They could strip that information from him. Not easily,” he conceded, feeling Rey’s flair of righteous anger, “but they could do it. Our best hope is that he can hold out long enough for us to get out of here.”

Leia turned to Statura. “Signal the evac.”

Statura nodded and left.

“Pava, go help Snap; I trust the two of you to make sure the shuttles are ready and everyone gets where they need to be. Stay out of Admiral Statura’s way; he’s going to be concerned about equipment and munitions.”

“General, if I may, someone should check chatter for that other ship. If we can find out what it was the First Order was really after, it may help us track their movements,” Jess said.

“What other ship?” Han asked.

“Looked like an Old Republic gunship,” Jess said. “We think it—or someone who was on it—was what the First Order was there for.”

“Chewie, I think it’s time you reached out to our good friend Maz,” Han said.

Chewie nodded and left the room.

“What about the intel you collected from your asset?” Ben asked.

“Finn, take this,” Leia said, handing him the small data device they’d retrieved. “Take it to command, tell Admiral Statura it’s from Talon and have him upload it to one of the secure servers. Then give the data to BB-8 for safe keeping. We’ll take him on the _Falcon_ us.”

“General?” he asked.

“We’ll be the last ones out, taking the _Falcon_.” She smiled at Han. “Just like old times.”

Han snorted. 

Finn shrugged, realizing he was missing something. Jess gave him a look that he had learned meant, “I’ll tell you the ridiculous, but true, story later.”

“I’ll meet you in command, General,” Finn said before taking his leave.

“What about Black One?” Rey asked. “You aren’t going to leave Poe’s ship behind as well, are you?”

Leia masterfully held back a flinch.

“As it would happen, I’ve been meaning to request taking one of the X-wings out,” Luke said. “Commander Pava, would you mind if Artoo and I borrowed your X-wing? You could fly Black One with BB-8.”

“No,” Jess said. “BB-8 will have information vital to the Resistance; he stays on the _Falcon_ with General Organa. I’ll take my astromech on Black One. With your permission, General.”

Leia nodded once. “I think Commander Dameron would be happy with that plan.”

“Then I had better go convince Snap and the others of that. It will be good to see you in the air again, Commander Skywalker.” Jess squeezed Rey’s hand again before leaving.

“General Organa, I’d like permission to—”

“No,” Leia said, sharply cutting Rey off.

“But Poe—”

“Poe would look at the bigger picture, kid,” Han said. “We protect the Resistance first, and then we work on getting him back.”

“He’s right, Rey. Poe would never forgive us for putting him ahead of the Resistance. He knew what he signed up for; this isn’t the first time he’s been taken,” Leia added.

“I _know_. But this time, there’s no Finn on board to help him,” Rey said, clenching her fists.

“But this time, we have the resources and the clout to be able to launch a rescue of our own without the rest of the New Republic disavowing us,” Leia said.

“Some of them will still condemn us,” Han pointed out.

“No one we like. Have Kein contact his father; I’m sure Senator Antilles will be more than happy to lend us Republic support,” Leia said.

“If we can keep him from getting in his own fighter, it’ll be a miracle,” Han muttered.

“Go,” Leia said, forcefully, but fondly.

“Four Force-wielders walk into a bar,” Ben intoned when it was just him, Rey, Luke and Leia left in the briefing room.

Leia huffed at her son. “What have I said about taking social cues from Pava, especially in tense situations?”

“Don’t?”

Rey choked back a sob at their easy banter. Banter that she and Poe would normally be engaged in.

“General…Leia, please,” Rey asked. She hated that she sounded like she was begging. _Hated it_. But for Poe, she would do more than beg. For Poe, she would beg, borrow, steal, and tear things apart with her bare hands to get him back.

Leia took the younger woman in her arms, hugging her gently, but tightly. 

“I know, Rey. _Believe me_ , I know.”

Rey got a quick image of Han Solo frozen in carbonite. She gasped.

Leia pulled back a little and nodded. “I risked a lot to get him back. We all risked a lot, but we took our time to make a plan we knew had the _best_ chance of succeeding.”

“I also had to take time to get a new hand,” Luke pointed out.

Leia narrowed her eyes at her brother. “Yes. Because you rushed off before finishing your training and went up against a foe you weren’t ready to conquer.”

“In my defense, I did so to save your life.”

“Duly noted,” Leia said, then noticed Rey was shaking in her arms. “Gentlemen, a moment?”

Luke nodded. “I’ll go catch up with Han. It’s been a while since I spoke to Wedge.”

“I’ll wait outside. Rey, when you’re done, there will be a lot of heavy equipment that needs moved. I think we could both stand to work on our control,” Ben offered.

“Thank you, Ben,” Leia answered.

Her son nodded and followed his uncle out of the room.

“Rey?” Leia asked.

Rey lifted her head and looked at Leia.

“We both know you can’t go after him alone. We would lose both of you and then where would we be?” Leia said.

“I’m so scared. Master Luke keeps telling me to control my feelings, but all I can think about is him alone and hurt.”

Leia nodded. “I won’t tell you to stop worrying. I am going to tell you to go help with the evacuation. The faster we get out of here, the faster the Resistance is safe.” Her hands tightened on the younger woman’s shoulders. “And when the Resistance is safe, then we will turn all our formidable attention on getting our pilot back. Do you hear me?”

Rey straightened her back as she nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Good. Now, enough talking about our feelings. We have work to do.”


	3. Steady (Finn)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finn is tasked with making sure Rey doesn't abscond with a ship. He then has to intervene in an argument between two hotheaded pilots. And Luke Skywalker requests a word with Jessika Pava.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promised Wednesday night, so here it is. Chapter Four is _mostly_ written. But I have to start work on a report for the project I just finished and then my birthday is Sunday. I am anticipating Chapter Four being up no later than Sunday night. If I can get it posted earlier, I will, but am hedging for Sunday so no one howls too much for my head.
> 
> I promise more Rey in the next chapter, but I also warn it's much more emotional than the previous chapters.

“Finn,” Leia said as she approached him in the command center. “Have you done as I asked?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied, petting BB-8 on the top of its dome.

The droid made as close to a grumbling noise as it was capable. Still, it didn’t pull out its shock device, so Finn counted it as a win.

“Thank you. If you would, get BB-8 settled in the _Falcon_ , and then help the pilots with the evac?”

“Shouldn’t I stay here with you?”

Leia lifted an eyebrow as she looked around the busy command center. While Finn took his duties as her bodyguard very seriously, the fact that the command center was filled with her most trusted colleagues meant she didn’t need him close to her side at the moment. She had other plans for him. “I think I’ll be all right. Trust me, Han will make sure I get to the _Falcon_ on time.”

“If you’re sure.”

“I am. You can better help me by making sure none of our ships take off without proper clearance.”

Finn gave her a puzzled look, then realized what she meant. Rey had been taking time in the simulators and making atmospheric training runs with Jess. She could probably figure out how to fly most of their craft if she decided she couldn’t wait any longer to find Poe.

“Of course. I’ll keep you updated.”

Leia nodded. “Thank you. Oh, and if you could find out from Kein if he was able to reach his father? Just in case Han gets distracted on his way here.”

In the time since he and Kein Antilles had started their relationship, Finn had gotten very good at not blushing at the drop of a hat (really, it was a necessary defense mechanism when you were friends with Poe Dameron and Jessika Pava), but _Leia Organa_ acknowledging the relationship still caught him off-guard.

“Thank you, ma’am, I’ll do that.”

Finn hurried out of the command center as quickly as he could, and, if he was honest with himself, not just to stop himself from blushing in front of the General.  
*****

“No, no, no. The Y-wings go with the equipment shuttles and the A-wings go with personnel!” 

Finn paused just inside the hangar to take in the sight of a pilot, in his flightsuit with the arms tied around his waist, shouting at Han Solo.

“Oh, thank the Crone, you’re here!”

Finn turned to see Jess running over to him.

“They have been arguing for the last ten minutes. One of them is bound to throw a punch soon,” she explained, nodding at the two men, whose argument continued at an increasing volume.

“Why?” Finn asked.

Jess rolled her eyes and grabbed Finn’s sleeve, tugging him toward the arguing men. “If I had to guess, it’s because Senator Antilles isn’t here for Kein to get into a shouting match with, so he picked a fight with the closest father figure.”

“Great,” Finn muttered. 

“That may have been the way it was done back in the day, _sir_ , but—”

“Why don’t you split them between duties?” Finn asked, interrupting.

“I tried that tactic, junior. Flyboy here thinks that’s an _inefficient_ idea,” Han explained, with a sneer.

“Because it _is_ inefficient. We’re already going to be splitting the X-wing squadrons up; we don’t have time to work out splitting up the A-wing and Y-wing squadrons as well,” Kein countered.

“Except we do!” Han yelled.

“I have an idea. General Solo, why don’t you go help General Organa in the command center and Jess, Kein and I will work with the pilots?” Finn said.

Han looked between Finn and Kein. “Fine,” he grit out. “When Chewie’s done with the _Falcon_ , send him my way.”

“Yes, sir,” Jess said. She waited until Han was out of the hangar before turning to look at Finn. “Now, would you kindly help your boyfriend get his head out of his ass? I’ll go help Snap with the A-wings.” 

“I’m standing _right here_ ,” Kein said.

She paused to look at Kein. “You can deal with the Ys.”

“I don’t know what I ever saw in her,” Kein grumbled as Jess walked away.

Finn laughed. “She’s a female version of you!”

“I have better legs.”

Finn smiled and hugged him. “Not gonna argue that.”

Kein held him tightly, for a moment, then pulled back to hold Finn’s shoulders. “How are you holding up?”

“My best friend is in the hands of my former masters. It’s a bad day.”

He cupped Finn’s cheek in his hand. “Hey, you got away from those masters. And we’ll get your best friend out, too.”

“Kein…you don’t know what they’ll do to him.”

“Neither do you. You just _think_ you know. You’re going to tie yourself up in knots if you keep thinking about it.”

Finn laughed mirthlessly. “I’m already there.”

Kein pulled him into another hug. “Well, no more of that! Come on, you can help me sort out the Y-wing pilots. They like Poe much better than they like me. I’m hoping if you stand close enough to me, your association with Poe will help warm them to me.”

“You realize they all worship the ground you walk on, right?”

“What? No! They’ve been going to Poe to double-check everything I ask of them since I got here.”

Finn doubled over in laughter.

“What? Are you having a breakdown of some sort? What’s the matter?”

Finn wiped tears away from his eyes. “Man, they were _hazing_ you.”

“They what? Pava!!”

Jessika looked up from the datapad she was reviewing. “What?”

“What’s this about the Y-wing pilots?”

Jess let out a harsh bark of laughter. “Not just the Ys!” she yelled back.

“I do not know why I am friends with these people,” Kein said, sighing.

Finn took his hand and laced their fingers together. “Because if you weren’t, they wouldn’t have approved of you courting me.”

“Ah, well, it’s worth it, then,” Kein said, stealing a quick kiss.

Finn smiled into the kiss, pressing forward to prolong it a bit longer. 

Kein groaned softly as the kiss ended. “Enough. I have work to do. Save it for breaking in our quarters at the new base.”

“Our?”

Kein scratched the back of his neck. “Er, I thought, what with it being a smaller base…we could…if you wanted to, that is…I would never presume?”

“You are so bad at this. How are will still together?”

“You’re captivated by my charm.”

“He’s covering your belongings with pheromone spray,” Jess suggested as she approached them.

“Lies,” Kein said.

Jess shrugged. “I have the A-wings sorted,” she said, waving her datapad. “You want to talk to them when you talk to the Ys?”

“I thought you were going to do that.”

She tilted her head back towards the _Millennium Falcon_ , from which Luke Skywalker had exited. “The Jedi Master would like a word with me. Trade you?”

Kein took the datapad from her hand. “Nope. I’ll handle pilots; you handle mystical people. You’re more used to it than I am.”

“Coward.”

“Nonsense!” he said, grasping her shoulder. “I just have complete faith in you.”

She lifted an eyebrow. “Charm, my ass,” she said, before wandering off to follow Skywalker out of the hangar.

“Soo….” Kein said, putting his arm around Finn’s shoulders. “You think we can get the pilots sorted quickly enough for you to help me pack up my quarters?”

Finn grinned. “Oh, I don’t think we’ll have that kind of time. We’ll just have to save it for our new quarters.”

Kein grinned and pressed a smacking kiss against his cheek. “Promises, promises.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo...I think it's fair to say that with Rey/Poe, Jessika/Ben (which I am totally coining DarkBlue as a pairing name) and now Finn/Kein, I have hit the rarepair trifecta for the TFA fandom. Thoughts?


	4. Bonds (Ben & Jessika)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which several discussions are had; Rey learns something she didn't know she didn't know; and Jessika may or may not be subtly threatening Luke Skywalker.
> 
> Also, the author is a terrible, terrible person.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are inferences of torture in this chapter. Nothing graphic whatsoever, but the specter of it lurks.

“What will they be doing?” 

Ben froze. He had been expecting the question from the moment he and Rey began helping move equipment they couldn’t afford to leave behind. He had worked very hard to not read her mind, but she was thinking loudly enough that he was pretty sure _Jess_ could have heard what Rey was thinking.

“I suppose Jess, Kein and Snap will be trying to wrangle pilots while my mother and father lead the evac,” he said, keeping his voice steady. “I’m not entirely sure about Luke. I thought he’d be here keeping an eye on us, to be perfectly honest.”

“ _Ben_.”

Ben sighed. “We have to get this done. The Resistance is counting on us.”

“ _Poe_ is counting on us,” she snarled, and the box she was levitating landed a bit harder than she meant it to.

He gently set down his own box, then nodded at the droid to pull the pallet into the nearby shuttle. 

“Rey, I know you think it will help you to know what Poe is facing, but it won’t. All it will do is distract you, and we have to stay focused. I promise, when the time comes, I will tell you what you need to know.”

“How can you not be worried for him? I thought you were friends!”

“We _are_ friends. His friendship is something I thought I’d never have again. I want him back as badly as you do. I want him away from the First Order as much as you do. The only difference is: I am not allowing that desire to rule me.”

“Which is funny for a Sith,” she snapped.

Ben nodded in acknowledgement. “I am aware of the irony in this situation.”

“What if it was Jess? When you thought she was gone—even for just those few moments—you were ready to tear the universe apart for revenge. How can you not spare even a small amount of that passion for Poe?”

Ben clenched his fists, a tell he had not yet managed to erase. “Do not for a _moment_ question my devotion to my friend. And do not mistake my empathy as permission to pummel my emotions. Poe is my friend; I want him back. I will do whatever is necessary, but I will do it the _right way_.” He stepped close to her. “And do not bring up that day to me again.”

Rey swallowed hard and nodded. 

He responded in kind and stepped away. “I will need a few moments,” he tossed over his shoulder as he walked to the door.

“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice small. “I just…I know you have suspicions. I can feel you throwing up your walls and it doesn’t feel right. Everything feels wrong and that bright spot in my mind that is Poe feels so _cold_ right now.”

He paused and turned to look at her. “Bright spot in your mind?” he asked.

She nodded. “He’s always felt so warm to me. Not that scorching heat from Jakku that strips everything it touches; something truer. But once we became lovers, it’s like there’s a part of him with me all the time. A spark at the back of my thoughts all the time.” She paused to wipe away tears. “I used to say he’d managed to worm his way not only into my heart, but into my mind. He said it was only fair, because I’d wrapped myself around his soul.”

Ben walked close to her. “Rey, have you tried reaching out to him?”

Her brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Through the Bond?”

“I still don’t understand.”

“Gods below, has Luke taught you _nothing_?”

Rey rankled at the attack on her Master. “He has been teaching me very well, I’ll have you know. He says I’m the best student he’s ever had.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt that. But has he taken the time to explain the more esoteric aspects of the Force? No! Because he doesn’t believe in them. And because he doesn’t believe in them, you clearly don’t need to know about them!” he fairly shouted, pacing the length of the room.

“Ben!” Rey called, grabbing his arm. “ _What_ are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about Force Bonds, Rey. More specifically, I’m talking about your and Poe’s Force Bond.”

“You mean it’s not…it’s not just a feeling? It’s real?”

“Well, of course it’s a feeling! But it’s also real; and something so much more. Tell me, have you tried speaking to him with just your mind?”

Rey closed her eyes in concentration.

“No, no! Stop!” Ben said, taking her upper arms in his hands. “If you haven’t done it before, now is not the time to start trying.”

“Why not?”

“The point of this evac is to keep Sn—the First Order away from here. You go throwing your thoughts out into the Force in an attempt to find Poe, and you’ll bring them right down on top of us.”

“But if I can find Poe before they hurt him, I need to try!”

“I’m not saying you shouldn’t try. I am not saying it’s not a remarkable tool we can use. I am saying there is a time and place, and right now and right here are not that time and place.” He paused, searching her face as he searched for the right words. “And Rey, they’ve had him for hours already. We both know they’ve already hurt him. I am sorry, but it’s the truth.”

She bit back a sob. Ben pulled her into an awkward hug, trying to soothe her. “I promise you, though. I _promise_ I will not stop looking for him.”

Rey huffed and pulled away from the hug. “I liked you better when you were a malicious hothead.”

Ben gave her one of his rare smiles. “No, you didn’t.”

She nodded. “I didn’t.” She took a deep breath. “All right, let’s get back to work. The sooner we get this done, the sooner I can start trying to find Poe.”

“Just promise me you won’t start reaching out for him. I need you to practice your walls and focus your thoughts elsewhere. Can you do that? For Poe?”

She smiled, sniffing back tears. “For Poe.”  
*****

Jessika had been surprised when Luke Skywalker asked her to join him as he exited the _Millennium Falcon_. She had been planning to go check in on Rey and Ben; she hoped she could convince the younger woman to get something to eat and rest. Jess personally thought it was futile to hope that the young Jedi would sleep until it was time to leave, but it couldn’t hurt to try.

“How close are Poe and Rey?” Luke asked. 

They were walking down the hall toward the medical unit, where Luke had sensed Rey and Ben were working.

“I’m sorry?” she asked, warily. She still hadn’t forgiven Luke for what he’d tried to do to Ben a few months ago.

“I know they are in a relationship and he occupies much of her thoughts, but just how close are they?”

Jess stopped walking and turned to face him, tilting her head to the side. “She loves him. Deeply. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a Force Bond between them.”

“How do you know about Force Bonds?”

“You seem to selectively forget how much time I spend with your nephew. Poe grew up under a Force tree that _you_ gave his family and Rey is unmatched by pretty much anyone; a bright flame of a Jedi. If anyone is going to have a Force Bond, it’s those two.”

“I had feared as much.”

“Oh, I am _not_ going to like this, am I?” Jess asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

Luke smiled. He could see why his nephew was so attached to the pilot. She reminded him a lot of Leia…and Shara Bey. He shook his head; this was no time to get lost in memories of his old friend; not when her son was in such danger.

“That smile is not making me feel any better, Skywalker,” Jess prompted.

“Sorry. I was just thinking about strong women.”

“I…do not know what to do with that information.”

“We are going to have to work together to bring Poe back. You are going to have to trust me.”

Jess whistled. “ _That_ is a tall order. But keep talking; we haven’t heard any loud crashes or screaming from medical, so we have some time.”

“Do you think she realizes there is a Bond?”

“No. If she knew, she’d have already tried to use it.”

Luke nodded. “Good.”

“Yeah,” Jess said, drawing out the word, “but she’s been working with Ben for a couple hours now. He’s probably informed her of it.”

“Why would he do that?”

Jess rolled her eyes. “To prevent her from using the Bond; either accidentally or on purpose.”

Luke smiled. “He’s better at this than he thinks.”

“You should be telling him that, not me.”

“Ben is not ready to hear it from me.”

“That is a very fair point. You know him better than you think you do,” she acknowledged.

“Knowing him was never the problem. It was everything else.”

Jess nodded. “Do better with Rey.”

“I will.”

“Good,” Jess said, pushing herself off the wall.

“We can’t let her use the Bond. If she connects to Poe, she’ll feel everything that’s happening to him.”

“Damn it,” Jess said, leaning back.

“She’ll feel it and she won’t be able to bring herself to break the connection. And Snoke might be able to follow that connection back to her.”

“Could we break it for her? I mean, if it came down to it and we had to, could we break it for her?”

“I wouldn’t try it. It could permanently damage both of them.”

“Okay. We need to concentrate on _not_ letting her use the Bond. Sounds like a plan,” Jess said, moving to continue down the hall.

Luke took a chance and reached out to put a hand on her arm. “We have to be a united front on this.”

“Trust me, Skywalker, Ben will be on board with any plan that keeps Snoke from finding him again. But I need you to promise me one thing.”

“Yes?” he asked, letting go of her arm.

Jess looked him straight in the eyes. “You have to promise me that you won’t try to convince her to leave him behind. That you won’t try to make her believe that if she rescues him, then it will thwart some great destiny.”

Luke gave her a small, sad smile. “I cared very deeply for Kes Dameron and Shara Bey. I see them every time I look at Poe. Each time I hear him speak, I hear Kes. When I see him taking care of his pilots, I see Shara. You don’t have to worry about me giving up on Poe. I couldn’t do that to his parents.”

“Well, damn it, now I can’t be as angry with you as I’d like.”

“It’ll be our secret.”

“I can live with that,” she said.

“So can I,” he said, before falling into to step with her. She lifted an eyebrow at him as he held the door to medical for her, but made no other comment.

“Rey! No trying to reach Poe through your Bond!” Jess called as soon as she saw the two Force-users.

“Subtle,” Luke muttered.

Jess shrugged. “Subtlety takes time and we’re on a clock.”

“Jess!” Rey said, turning to greet them.

Jess smiled as she watched Ben catch the crate Rey’s inattention had let fall, even as he settled his own on the pallet.

“Control, Rey,” Luke admonished.

Rey blushed. “Sorry. I need to talk to you about Force Bonds.”

“You told her?” Jess asked as she settled herself beside Ben.

“Yes. Should I not have?”

She knocked her elbow against him. “Nope. Just wishing I had made Skywalker put credits on it.”

“I am long past the age when I take sucker bets, Commander Pava,” Luke replied.

Jess laughed. “You guys done in here?” she asked Ben.

“Yep. Dr. Kalonia doesn’t trust us with anything else.”

“What do you think, Master Skywalker? You take one and I’ll take the other?” Jess said.

Luke nodded. “Come on, Rey. We’ll work on some meditation techniques that will block the Bond.”

“But not sever it,” Rey said, her tone fierce.

“But not sever it,” Luke agreed.

“We’ll come get you if the General orders the final evac,” Jess promised.

“Thank you,” Rey said. She ran over and gave Jess a quick hug before following Luke.

“Try to get some rest!” Ben called after the two Jedi.

Jess rolled her eyes. “That wasn’t helpful.”

“It wasn’t?”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Sometimes, I’m not sure if you’re really missing social cues or if you’re just being an ass.”

Ben stretched his arms over his head. “Little bit of both.”

“I’m going to go get some shut eye. We’ll have to move fast when the order to go comes.”

Ben nodded. “I think I’ll go check in with command and see if they need any help.”

Jess shook her head as she watched him walk away. “Ben.”

“What?” he asked, turning.

“Come take a nap with me.”  
*****

“I’m going to miss this place,” Ben said quietly.

“Hmm?” Jess murmured, curling back against him, hoping the movement would encourage him to go to sleep. They were curled in his bed—Jess had insisted that if she was going to nap, she was going to do so in Ben’s room, where most people were still too afraid to go looking for her.

“I’m going to miss this place.”

She caressed the arm wrapped around her waist. “Why? You’ve been all but trapped in this room since you woke up.”

He pressed his face against the side of her neck. “It’s the first home I’ve had in a very long time. I came back to myself here.”

She rolled over to face him, running her fingers through his hair to soothe him. “Maybe we can come back to this base once we get Poe back. Maybe they won’t find it through him.”

“Maybe.”

“Where do you think we’ll go?” Jess asked, giving up on sleep anytime soon.

“We should go to Hoth. I bet Rey would love snow.”

“I don’t think that idea would go over very well with your uncle.”

Ben snorted. “Do you know what I keep thinking?”

“No idea. Null, remember?”

He pulled her tightly against him, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “It could have been you,” he whispered.

“Oh, Ben,” she replied, sliding her hand to his neck. “Don’t think about it.”

“It could have been you. You could be in his hands right now and I _know_ what he would be doing to you. I know what he would _let them_ do to you,” he said, his voice breaking. He was shuddering so hard the tremors were transferring to her.

“Calm down, Ben,” she said, stroking her fingertips over his face. “He doesn’t have me. I’m right here, with you.”

His fingers dug into her shoulders as he tried to wrap himself around her as much as he could. He knew he must be hurting her, knew he would leave bruises, but he had to anchor himself in the here and now, instead of in his own terrified mind.

“ _Ben_!” Jess said, her voice low but forceful. She put her hands on his shoulders and pushed him back slightly. 

“Sorry, sorry, sorry,” he said, letting go of her and curling in on himself.

She shifted in the bed, pulling him against her, resting his head against her shoulder. “What do you need from me?” she asked, her lips against his temple.

“I just…you can’t…” he let out a groan of frustration. “This would be easier if you could just read my mind.”

She tilted his head up to look into his eyes. “Then show me.”

He moved quickly, claiming her mouth as he pressed her body into the bed with his own. She let him control the kiss for a few moments; his hands clutching her hips as he bit and licked at her lips. She slid her hands back into his hair, gentling the kiss without taking away from the passion. Her tongue slipped into his mouth, coaxing him into a slower pace.

“Jess,” he gasped, breaking the kiss. “I don’t know how Rey can bear it,” he said, pressing his face against her neck. He found her pulse with his lips, tracing it with soft, biting kisses.

“She bears it because she has to.” She lifted his head and held his cheek in her palm. “We will all bear it because we have to.” She stroked her thumb over his sharp cheekbone. “What can I do to help you bear it?”

“Stay,” he said.

“Of course.”

“Good. That’s…that’s good,” he said, sliding his hands beneath her shirt, palms caressing her ribs.

Jess hummed encouragement as she tugged his shirt out of the way and stroked her fingers up his back. She had learned during Ben’s rehabilitation that he had been touch-starved for years. Sometimes, the only way to calm him enough for his brain to slow down long enough for his mouth to catch up with it was to touch him with affection. Leia had almost cried when she realized that her son needed her to hug him as much as she needed to wrap him in her arms. Han was relieved that he could clap Ben on the shoulder without worrying he’d set the younger man off. 

“Hold me,” he whispered, brokenly, against the curve of her throat.

She shifted in the bed, allowing him to settle between her legs. It wasn’t the most comfortable position, with one of his arms around her waist and the other braced against her spine, but it gave Ben the solace he needed. She reached up and ran her fingers through his hair, humming softly.

“Poe’s mother used to sing that song,” Ben said, quietly.

“It’s a good lullaby,” she whispered.

He leaned up and kissed her again. “Thank you.”

“Always,” she replied, smiling at him.

He settled against her, sliding down so he could rest his head on her breast, listening to her heartbeat as he fell asleep in the safety of her arms.  
*****

Rey woke up gasping. She didn’t know how she had allowed herself to fall asleep. One moment, she had been meditating the way Luke had taught her and the next, she was sound asleep in Poe’s bed.

BB-8 rolled over to her, nudging against her hand.

“It’s all right. Just a bad dream,” she said.

BB-8 beeped at her in inquiry.

“No, no I don’t remember what it was about,” she replied. 

But she did.

_Agony._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry about that ending. I was planning to end the chapter with Ben falling asleep, and then the EvilPlotBunny (you know, the one that looks like the bunny from _Holy Grail_?) popped that ending in there.
> 
> The next chapter is the big, hard, ugly one. That being said, it will probably take a week for me to finish, polish and post. I will have more free time this week than the last six, so I may get more writing done; if that happens, it will be less than a week. But in the interest of not being more of a bastard than I am merely by writing this, I make no promises for a post prior to Friday.
> 
> And finally, Ben's curse of "gods below" was shamelessly lifted from the _Dune_ series. I love Gurney Halleck.


	5. Break a Silver Lining (Poe)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The First Order takes their time with Poe Dameron.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE READ THIS FIRST**
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> I did not update the tag to include Rape/Non-con, because I didn't want to scare anyone with the thought there would be rape in this fic. _However,_ there is some non-consensual touching and the threat of non-consensual sexual conduct. **So I am warning for that: non-consensual touching and _threat_ of non-consensual sexual conduct.**
> 
> I also added new tags, but the torture in this chapter includes: knives, Force lightning, electrocution, beatings, whippings, and severe psychological torture. Also keep in mind that torture victims are unreliable narrators when it comes to the passage of time.

The first thing that registered as Poe dragged himself towards consciousness was the cold. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt this cold, and he had once been part of a mission to inspect the viability of returning to the Hoth base.

“Interesting. That choice seems a bit obvious, even for General Organa. Still, I’ll send one of the First Order’s squadrons; just to be sure.”

Poe cursed himself and tried to concentrate on putting up mental walls. He was much better at it than the last time he was in a cell; Rey had been helping him. He gritted his teeth and opened his eyes, surprised that the room’s lights were not blindingly bright. He took as deep a breath as he was able—Phasma hadn’t been remotely gentle when taking him into custody—and took in his surroundings. He was lying on his side on the cold floor, his arms still bound behind him. He turned his head to look up at the person who had spoken to him. A robed and hooded figure stood near the door, the cowl of the hood so deep he couldn’t see their face.

“Déjà vu is the _worst_ ,” he said, forcing himself into a sitting position. Leaning back against the cold wall was only moderately better than lying on the cold floor, but he would take what small solace he could get.

The figure took a step closer. “Such sass, even when you are beaten.”

Poe snorted. “Beaten? This is just heavily bruised. I’m nowhere near _beaten_.”

“That can change very quickly.”

Poe lifted one shoulder in an insolent shrug. “Took quite a while last time I was here, and you had _Kylo Ren_ then.”

“What makes you think you’re on the _Finalizer_?”

Poe grinned. “Recognized the stench when I woke up. Someone should really tell General Hux to ease up on the aftershave.” He tilted his head to the side. “Is he even still a general? I mean, we were all surprised when Snoke didn’t take Hux’s toy away from him after Starkiller. Did he just demote him? Or is he still in command, but of a ghost ship on the Outer Rim? The failure of the Resurgent class?”

“I’ll give General Hux your regards,” the visitor said, before turning to leave.

“That’s not an answer!” Poe called back, as the door to the cell opened.

The figure lifted a hand as it exited the cell, and Poe’s restraints fell away.

Poe stared at the closed door as he rubbed his sore wrists. _Another Force user. Kriff_ me.  
*****

Poe didn’t know how long he had been unconscious. Judging by the fact that he didn’t feel a pressing need to relieve himself, he figured several hours, at most. That meant the _Finalizer_ hadn’t been far from Khubeaie; which in turn meant that the Resistance was very lucky Poe had been the only one taken prisoner. Clearly, they would have to have a word with their informants about making sure _kriffing Star Destroyers_ weren’t patrolling near drop points.

Poe sighed and absently rubbed at a bruise on his ribs. He carefully stood up and began to search the cell for a way out. He figured it would be futile, but sitting around waiting for his interrogators to fetch him wasn’t something he relished. They had left him clothed, but taken his shoes and socks. They had also taken his jacket from him, which really irked him; he had _just_ gotten around to replacing the one he had let Finn keep. He picked up his restraints and tucked them into his pants pocket. As a weapon, they weren’t much, but every edge helped, considering he was rather sure a plucky stormtrooper with authority issues wouldn’t be coming to save him. Still, his chances for rescue were far better this time than the last; he was no longer just a spy for an upstart militia. The Resistance had legitimacy now, and with that came the resources for rescuing downed pilots.

He hoped.  
*****

As near as he could tell, since he woke up to that brief visit, he had spent three days in the cell without any visitors, save droids bringing him protein bars and water. After his attempt to disable and get past the first droid, he had a healthy appreciation for anyone who had been on the receiving end of BB-8’s shocker; he’s pretty sure he lost a few hours to unconsciousness that day. When he awoke, his restraints were gone; he hoped they were still lodged in the droid’s eye socket.

There had been a few times when he couldn’t remember falling asleep, but awoke feeling groggy. He suspected some of the food may have been drugged, but wouldn’t have put it past the First Order to be testing new knock-out gas on him. Waste not, want not and all that.

He heard the tell-tale sound of the cell door sliding open and turned from his scrutiny of the air vent—too small to climb through—to see, not the service droid, but two stormtroopers.

“Visitors! And me in my day clothes; you will forgive my appearance?” he said.

The first stormtrooper entered the room and snapped out a baton. It crackled with energy, and it took everything Poe had not to flinch. Finn had told him about the Force lightning-imbued weapons Snoke had been developing. It looked like they had progressed beyond blasters.

“What, no foreplay?” Poe asked.

He felt excruciating pain and then nothing.  
*****

When Poe awoke, he was strapped into the, unfortunately, familiar frame of an interrogation chair. He tested the restraints, finding just enough give in the wrists to be able to clench his fists, and enough in the ankles to twist his feet. From experience, he knew that it was so he wouldn’t unduly injure himself when he convulsed.

“This thing has _not_ gotten any more comfortable,” he said.

“Do make a note of that, Commander Pandion. General Hux will be pleased to hear it.”

“Ah, my hooded friend. Good to see your robes again,” Poe said, aiming a charming smile at the cloaked figure.

“Perhaps the throat restraint, Commander.”

Poe gasped as a padded piece of metal wrapped around his neck, pulling his head back against the chair. He had enough leeway to turn his head to see someone stepping out from behind the chair, but that was it.

“You brought a friend this time. How nice,” Poe said.

“This is Commander Pandion,” the hooded figure said. “She will be assisting me with your interrogation. If I get too bored with you, I may hand your interrogation over to her for a time.”

“Aw, I don’t rate the general this time? I’m hurt.”

The blonde commander smiled, a gleam of something unsettling in her eyes. “Not just yet, Dameron. But we have all the time in the galaxy.”

Poe winked. “You just keep telling yourself that.”

The figure in the hood snorted. “You think very highly of yourself, Commander Dameron. Do you really think you’re worth an assault on this vessel?”

“If you knew me better, you’d know I am completely worth it.”

“Pandion,” the hooded figure said.

The commander stepped forward and delivered a vicious blow to Poe’s side, just beneath his ribs.

Poe coughed, trying to breathe past the pain. “That wasn’t very polite. I gave you an honest answer,” he said, gasping between words. He took a deep breath, wincing, then lifted his head to look at the hooded figure. “Of course, if we were being polite, you’d have introduced yourself by now.”

“Where _are_ my manners?” 

The hooded figure reached gloved hands up and pushed back the hood. Poe wasn’t expecting to see an actual face staring back at him. The woman’s face was smooth and unlined, a sharp counter to her purely silver hair. Under other circumstances, Poe would have found her attractively intriguing; as it was, he found her disconcerting.

“You were expecting a mask? We don’t all go in for the theatrics of Kylo. Masks are to be used for battle, not to hide from scum like you. If Kylo had had to show his face to the world, he might have better controlled his emotions. He might not have been such a complete failure.”

“You’ll forgive me if I’m grateful for that failure.”

She lifted a hand and Poe felt his breath trapped in his throat. She took a step closer. “But you are right; we must have manners. I am Qartho Ren; Master of the Knights of Ren.”

Poe managed one more gasp before he passed out.  
*****

“Do you know what Kylo Ren’s problem was?”

Poe shook his head as he came awake to the question. He winced as he opened his eyes; the lights were brighter now.

“Monochrome wardrobe?” he asked.

Qartho Ren laughed. It was not a pleasant sound. “Wardrobe. Yes, let’s begin with _your_ wardrobe. Commander Pandion?”

The commander, whom Poe had just noticed was in the room, stepped forward. She reached behind her and pulled out a knife.

“No, no, Commander Pandion. Nothing so crass. Our guest expects certain things of a Force user. Let’s not disappoint,” Qartho said.

Commander Pandion nodded, putting her knife away.

Qartho stared into Poe’s eyes, and he braced himself for the mental assault he thought would follow.

“Not yet, Commander Dameron,” Qartho said, “it’s easier to break the mind after we’ve broken the body. But do rest assured; we will get to that delightful brain of yours.”

With a flick of her lowered wrist, the restraints holding his arms and legs to the chair snapped open. Before he could try to make a move, he felt his limbs being caught by the Force.

“Now, Commander Pandion. If you would relieve the prisoner of his shirt and trousers. I’m going to need access to his flesh,” Qartho ordered.

Poe gritted his teeth, straining against the hold on him.

Qartho laughed at his struggle as Commander Pandion moved forward. “Shy, are we? That’s not what we’ve heard. We’ve heard you like to go swimming nearly naked. That you strut around the hangar half-naked. That you strip to almost nothing to spar. Are the First Order and Knights of Ren not worthy of your body?”

“The Resistance will not be intimidated by you,” he said, staring past Commander Pandion at Qartho.

“Yes, I believe you’ve said that before. What’s the matter, Dameron? Am I not worth fresh quips? It’s like you’re not even _trying_.”

“Come closer and I’ll show you what you’re worth,” he said, voice low, but fierce.

“Why don’t I show you something first?”

Qartho stared at the back of Commander Pandion’s head. The commander lifted her hands, settling them at Poe’s waist. She slipped her hands beneath the hem of his shirt, then began stroking her hands up Poe’s torso and across his chest as she pushed the shirt up to his shoulders. Poe glared at the knight, fighting to keep from flinching away from the touches. The Force-user had left him enough control of his body that he _could_ flinch, but he didn’t want to give her the satisfaction.

“Arms up,” Qartho said, and Poe’s arms obeyed without his input. The commander finished taking off his shirt, tossing it aside. She slid her hands back down his body, nails scratching down his sides.

“Commander Pandion,” Qartho said, and the officer stepped back. “You see how very easy it is, Dameron? Although, I’ll admit the control is easier when the task is not…objectionable to the subject. Isn’t that right, Commander Pandion?”

The commander shook her head lightly. “He’ll do, My Lady.”

“Indeed, he would. Now, Dameron, I’ll give you an opportunity to invoke some good will. I’ll remove your trousers without touching you, but you have to give me some information. Nothing too important; just a token bit of intel,” Qartho said.

Poe shoved down the shudder he felt building at the base of his spine, but couldn’t prevent the feeling of his skin crawling. “No.”

Qartho smiled. “Very well. His trousers, please, Commander.”

The commander’s had tilted, indicating Qartho had taken control again. Commander Pandion slipped her fingers beneath Poe’s waistband, carefully undoing the fastener before taking the zipper between her thumb and forefinger and pulling it down. She gripped the waistband and began to pull the trousers down, the back of her knuckles sliding over his thighs. The commander dropped to her knees to pull the trousers the rest of the way down. Once the trousers were off, she stayed kneeling.

“Don’t,” Poe said to Qartho.

“She’s a First Order officer. Your enemy. Don’t you want to see her debase herself?”

“No.”

Qartho smirked. “We’ll see. Commander!” she said sharply.

Commander Pandion shook her head and rose quickly. “Ma’am,” she replied, returning to Qartho’s side.

“Please bring me my knives.”

Poe’s eyes widened as he was pressed back into the chair, the restraints snapping shut once again. He watched with growing alarm as Commander Pandion rolled a table out of the corner of the room. She rolled it over to rest beside Qartho, then stepped back, standing at parade rest as she stared at Poe. The top of the table was covered with a nearly-black cloth, but Poe could make out the outline of something underneath. A lot of somethings.

“Kylo Ren’s problem,” Qartho began again, “was that he relied too much on his control of the Force.”

She lifted the cloth off the table and hummed as she passed her hand over the knives underneath.

“Please don’t mistake me. His connection to the Force was frustratingly strong. I’ve never met someone with such potential. But he relied too heavily on it. What good is being able to freeze a blaster bolt in mid-air if you can’t appreciate the carnage it will do to a body?”

Poe watched in growing horror as she picked up a knife and spun the hilt between her fingers. She nodded, seemingly satisfied with the weight, before picking up another in her other hand and repeating the motions. 

“Now, Commander Poe Dameron of the Resistance, let me introduce you to the importance of the carnal aspect of torture.”

Poe bit his lip so hard it bled as the first knife slid into his skin, stabbing just beneath his left collarbone, only stopping when the hilt pressed against his flesh. He closed his eyes in pain.

“Open,” Qartho snapped.

Poe’s eyelids flew open against his will. Qartho was right in front of him, her hand still on the knife in his shoulder. She held the other knife up for him to see.

“You see the grooves near the hilt?” she asked.

He nodded. It didn’t seem worth it to fight her on this small thing; better to save his strength for when he really needed it.

“Those are there so that when you remove the blade,” she said, pulling the knife halfway out, “it doesn’t get caught in the flesh. Which makes it easy to reuse it in a knife fight.” She pulled the blade all the way out, then shoved it back in inches from the first mark.

Poe was barely able to bite back his scream, allowing a high, anguished sound to escape from his mouth.

“Hold that for me, please,” Qartho said, flicking the hilt with her finger.

Poe grunted as the vibration from the hit carried down the knife into his flesh.

Qartho pressed the flat of the other blade against her mouth, her tongue coming out to briefly touch it as she thought.

“Hmm, maybe I should send you back to your general with a message carved into your skin. What do you think, Commander Pandion?”

“Were you actually intending on sending him back?”

Qartho sighed. “You’re right. It’ll have to be something just for me, then.”

Poe was able to keep quiet for the first several slashes of knife against the tender flesh of his belly. After that, he screamed himself raw.

He passed out before Qartho was done.  
*****

Poe woke up on the cold slab the First Order called a bunk in his cell. He had been redressed before they returned him. He could feel a sticky pulling at his collarbone and belly, which told him he had been redressed without the wounds being cleaned up. It would hurt when they took his clothes off again. He lifted his hands and rubbed them over his face. He paused, feeling carefully along his cheeks and jaw.

He had no stubble. He was as clean-shaven as he had been when he was taken. _Why would they bother to shave me, but not take the time to dress my wounds?_

He laid there, trying to figure out the angle on this new tactic. His hands kept drifting to his sore stomach. Part of him wanted to pull the shirt away from the wound, to not give Qartho Ren the pleasure of hearing him cry out when the fabric tore from the wound. The other part of him was afraid to see what she had carved into his skin.

The cell door opened and he turned to see Commander Pandion standing in the hall, flanked by two stormtroopers.

“Your presence is required, Dameron,” she said.

“It’s so nice to feel wanted,” he said. He carefully got to his feet, trying not to wince too hard at how the movement pulled at his wounds.

Commander Pandion sneered at him. “Your attitude is doing you no favors.”

Poe barked out a sharp laugh. “Let’s not fool ourselves. Commander to commander, we both know I’m not getting off this ship alive.”

“You’d be surprised. Maybe we’ll leave you on Hoth for your general to find if she does return there.”

The commander reached out, grabbed the hem of his shirt, and yanked sharply upward.

Poe shouted in pain, unable to both keep quiet and keep his feet, and he was damned if he was going to his knees for this woman.

She let go of his shirt, smiling sharply. “These stormtroopers will escort you to the interrogation cell.”

“Good. I could use the fresh air,” he snarled.

The troopers grabbed him by the upper arms and half-dragged, half walked him down to the cell.

“Did you save this baby for me, or have you interrogated others in it since my last visit?” Poe asked as they strapped him into the chair.

“There have been others in this chair. You’re nothing special, Dameron,” Qartho Ren said as she swept into the room.

“And yet I warrant your attention so often,” he said, smiling.

“He’d be less charming without some of those teeth, don’t you think?” Qartho asked Commander Pandion.

The commander considered. “Wouldn’t it be better to leave that smile, with nothing left to smile at?”

Qartho’s grin was a thing of terror. “That’s why she’s my favorite, Dameron.”

Poe stared into the knight’s dark green eyes and shuddered.

“Are you cold, Dameron?” Qartho asked.

Poe glared at her.

“That’s all right. We’ll warm you right up. Commander, please have the stormtroopers bring in my tools for the day.”

Poe swallowed hard as two troopers wheeled in a large table. There were several large buckets on top and, beside them, two modified shock batons. 

Qartho held up her hand, holding him in place again as the restraints opened. She used the Force to quickly strip his shirt and trousers from him. Poe grunted at the pain as the shirt was pulled off with invisible hands.

“Generally speaking, the next step should be heat. General Hux has suggested hot brands and, when it comes time to cycle back around, I may let him indulge himself. I prefer a more…elegant solution,” Qartho explained.

For a brief, horrifying moment, Poe thought she meant to use her lightsaber on him. He had seen the weapon attached to her belt the first time she questioned him, and had held out hope she would never decide to use it.

Qartho smiled at him. “Careful, Dameron, your thoughts are bleeding through. You are not worth my lightsaber.”

She lifted her hand, and one of the buckets rose from the cart, its contents flung over Poe.

He had half-expected the water to be freezing cold; instead, it was almost scalding. He shouted in surprised pain.

Qartho picked up one of the batons and swung it around in a complicated pattern before jabbing it against Poe’s wet torso. He screamed and twisted as the lightning danced over his body.

He lost consciousness somewhere between the third and fourth buckets of water.  
*****

 _They haven’t asked me any questions_ , Poe thought as he woke up. He was back in his cell; unsure of how long he’d been asleep.

They hadn’t bothered replacing his shirt this time, and he rubbed his hand over the wound on his stomach. It felt like it had done some healing, but he couldn’t be sure. He clenched his hands into fists as he realized his fingers were shaking.

With a groan, he hauled himself off the sleeping slab and onto the floor. Settling gingerly into the meditation pose he had seen Rey use so often, he tried to center himself. The fact that they hadn’t asked questions bothered him; he was afraid they were breaking him down physically so he couldn’t concentrate on keeping his mental shields up. He needed to protect the Resistance for as long as possible. If they were smart, they would have fled their base to another location, but he couldn’t be sure.

His cell door slid open again. Commander Pandion stood outside, flanked by stormtroopers again.

Poe met her gaze, but made no move to get up.

“Qartho Ren has been called away,” Commander Pandion said.

“That’s too bad. I was looking forward to another scintillating conversation with her.”

“I’m to take you to the interrogation cell.”

Poe stood up, secretly proud of how little he shook as he did so. “I’m to wait there for her, then? Good. This slab is murder on my back.”

The stormtroopers grabbed him, and Poe tried not to notice how much of his weight they had to take as they transported him down the hall. It was almost a relief when he was strapped into the chair; he didn’t have to hold his weight up any more.

“Qartho Ren sends her regards,” Commander Pandion said as she entered the room. She was followed by four additional stormtroopers.

“Am I to be used for target practice? I doubt any of them will hit me. Even at this range,” Poe said, his voice raspy, but full of bravado.

“Target practice, of a sort. These troopers have been chosen for the interrogation ranks. I am going to observe their technique to ensure they have learned how to properly land blows with their fists and feet; and the occasional knee and elbow,” she explained. “We’ll begin with TX-1138.”  
*****

“This is new,” Poe said as he was dragged into a cell.

There was no chair in this cell, but the chain and manacles hanging from the ceiling made it clear it was used for similar purposes as the usual cell. He should have known something would be different by the odd expression on Pandion’s face when she had come to fetch him.

“Qartho Ren is unavailable again and Commander Pandion owed me a favor.”

Poe scolded himself for not taking in all the features of the room, including the man standing in the corner.

“General Hux. I was beginning to think your survival was a myth,” Poe said.

“Oh, I am very much alive, _Black Leader_. I have been waiting for the opportunity to express my feelings about your role in Starkiller’s destruction,” Hux said, stepping close to Poe.

“You do realize Starkiller was a thing and not a child, right? Because the look in your eyes is telling me no.”

“Is he always this mouthy?” Hux asked Pandion.

“Had you forgotten?” she asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“I must have. Well, we’ll see what it takes to shut him up. Or, at least, make him non-verbal.”

It was then that Poe noticed the switches and floggers aligning the wall. And the fierce-looking whip in Hux’s hand.

“You spend a lot of time in here, don’t you, Hux?” he asked.

Hux punched him in the face, and Poe swore he felt his cheekbone crack.

“General!” Commander Pandion said.

“I outrank you, Commander. Do remember that in your tone,” Hux snarled.

“And Qartho Ren has asked me to keep an eye on the prisoner. She will be disappointed if he is too badly damaged upon her return,” Pandion explained.

“I suppose you’ll insist on staying, then,” he asked, nodding to the stormtroopers to put Poe’s hands in the manacles.

“I will,” Pandion replied.

Hux smirked at her as he used a datapad to adjust the chains, pulling Poe up until he was standing on his tiptoes.

“Well, then,” Hux said to Pandion, “best watch carefully so you can make a thorough report.”  
*****

When he woke up this time, he was in the chair, fully clothed and with his boots on. A mirror had been hung across the room; he could see that he was bloodied and haggard. But, again, clean-shaven. His back was throbbing in pain, but it seemed like it had felt worse before. Had it? Or was he finally experiencing nerve damage from the repeated abuse?

A surge of anger rushed through him and he fought against the restraints, sighing in relief when his wrists started to bleed. He could feel that fresh pain; it centered him, let him know this was real.

“Now, now, Dameron. That’s my job,” Qartho Ren said as she entered the room.

“Got bored,” he whispered.

“Hmmm…you are looking a bit worn thin. Perhaps we can just talk today,” she said, walking up to him and stopping a meter away.

“Leave me alone,” he said. He was tired of the beatings. Of the torture. Of the flashes of memories he wasn’t sure were his. He didn’t know how long he’d been here and wasn’t completely sure what he had told them; and what his nightmares said he’d told them.

“Leave? I will never leave you, Poe Dameron. I will be your constant watcher until the end of your days.”

Poe shuddered. He didn’t doubt her. But he had to press back; _he had to_. “If that’s your way of asking to defect, I accept.”

She backhanded him. “Are we back to this useless defiance?”

He spat blood on the ground. “Doesn’t feel useless.”

The cell door opened and Commander Pandion joined them. “Apologies, Lady Ren. I was needed on the bridge.”

Qartho waved her off, deciding instead to punch Poe in the stomach, right over the insignia she had inscribed on his skin.

“What were you doing on Khubeaie?”

He laughed. “I hear the bazaar does a mean lunch spread.”

Qartho smiled. “Indeed. General Hux will be so disappointed. He was convinced you were meeting with your spy.”

Poe tried to keep his face neutral; a task he found daunting due to the all the chemicals in his system. _Wait, have they drugged me? Yes, yes, I remember the needles. The liquids they poured down my throat. I remember that, right?_ He shook his head, trying to focus.

Qartho tsked. She turned to the commander, who now stood beside her. “Poor thing. He thought we didn’t know.”

Commander Pandion smirked. “The Resistance continues to function under the delusion that everyone is as disorganized as they are.”

Qartho turned back to Poe, her gloved hand reaching out to grab a fistful of his hair. “Poor pilot. How did you think we knew all about you? It’s not like the Resistance is foolish enough to put up actual recruitment posters. Although,” she said, sharply turning his head toward the commander, “he is handsome enough.”

“A little too scruffy for my taste.”

Qartho shook his head violently, the hand in his hair pulling hard enough to tear strands from his scalp. “But the lax regulations do make this easier. You’d never be able to hold Hux this way.”

The commander bowed her head. “Clearly, Lady Ren.”

“Still, he could use another shave. Get someone to take care of it.”

The commander nodded and keyed in the appropriate sequence on the datapad. 

Poe hated that datapad; he had begun to recognize certain sequences, allowing him time to anticipate the brand of torture that was next coming for him.

Qartho sighed, letting go of Poe’s hair with enough force to slam his head into the back of the chair.

“But back to spies,” Qartho said, walking over to the table that held her knives.

Poe shuddered. He hated those knives. He preferred the blunt force trauma of a beating. He even preferred the lightning. Right now, he preferred anything to those knives.

“Some in the First Order believed we shouldn’t stoop to trying to plant spies in your Resistance. To be honest, I thought it would be _too_ easy to plant a spy in your midst. It wasn’t an endeavor worth my…talents,” Qartho said, picking up her favorite knife and going through a brief kata with it.

Poe snorted. “The First Order’s attempts were a little blatant. Or haven’t you heard about the fight in Demon’s Run? Didn’t we send you guys the tab for that?”

The commander, at a nod from Qartho, kneed him hard in the stomach for his impertinence.

Poe gasped, panting through the pain. “I guess that’s a yes. Tell me, is Hux a decent tipper?”

“Enough!” Qartho yelled, stalling another hit from the commander.

Qartho stalked over to Poe, her knife held loosely at her side. She clutched his jaw in her free hand, forcing him to meet her eyes.

“You poor Resistance scum. You never do know a diversion when you see it,” she snarled.

“Are we talking about the torture?”

“We sent in a decoy spy so you wouldn’t notice the real one. So that you would never go looking.” She slid the knife down his torso, trying to find a piece of unmarred flesh. In the end, she stabbed him in the thigh, twisting it as the blade tore into his flesh.

Poe screamed, but she refused to let go of his jaw.

“But that isn’t what you should be really afraid of, Dameron. You should be afraid of our sleeper agents. The ones just waiting for the right trigger to complete their mission. The ones who don’t even remember they are truly ours.”

Poe gasped and tried to pull away.

“Look at me,” Qartho demanded, her voice heavy with the Force.

Poe met her eyes with his own bloodshot gaze.

“How will you feel when I speak the phrase that finds your hands around your precious general’s throat?”

Poe screamed his denial until his voice gave out.  
*****

He barely registered the pain as his body was tossed into his cell. He folded himself in half, careful of the sluggishly bleeding wound in his thigh.

“It’s not true. It’s not true. It’s not true,” he whispered to himself until he fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so, so sorry. It had to be done. It was really hard for me to write, and I'm almost embarrassed that I nearly doubled the word count of this fic with roughly 5,000 words of torture. I _promise_ the rescue will happen (in the chapter after next)--I wrote the rescue before anything else.
> 
> I am going away for the weekend, but at the end of the weekend will post something that is fluffy and snarky that takes place years down the line, proving that Poe (and our other intrepid heroes) survive this.
> 
> Also, title of the chapter is a line from Tori Amos' _Sorta Fairytale_
> 
> P.S. Years ago, when I wrote my opus in the _Torchwood_ fandom, the preferred way of threatening me after I was a terrible author in a chapter was to throw shoes at me. If you like.


	6. Night Has Reached Its End (The Resistance)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Resistance keeps searching for Poe, including utilizing...unorthodox intelligence streams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My headcanon is that, when the massacre happened, they listed Ben as one of the dead. There are very few people who know that Ben Solo is/was Kylo Ren. I further think Snoke was keeping that info in his pocket to devastate the Resistance at _exactly_ the right time. And then Starkiller's destruction happened.
> 
> Chapter title is a lyric from Muse's _Resistance_.

“Pava, the general needs a word,” Admiral Statura said.

Pava turned her head to look at Leia, then back at Statura. “Yeah, that’s why I’m in here.”

“No, the other one.”

Pava gave him a puzzled look.

Admiral Statura sighed. “General Solo.”

“How did you get him to take the rank back?” Pava asked Leia.

“I’m rather certain it’s Luke’s fault,” Leia replied.

“Commander?” Statura asked.

“With your permission, General?”

“Go see what he wants. Maybe he’s managed to find something,” Leia said, waving her off.

Jessika nodded at Finn before slipping out of the command center. 

“Now, where were we?” Leia asked the remaining members of the war council. 

After weeks of hyperspace jumps and the coordinated scattering of Resistance forces to bases Poe Dameron didn’t know about, Leia and her small contingent of fighters had settled on Qalydon. She didn’t think the First Order would think to look for them there, and it was a base her father—the one who had raised her—had helped build in the early days of the Galactic Empire.

“Maz still has feelers out. She said the one thing having to build a new place has helped with is the fact that she’s having far more interactions than usual. We have received some good intel, but nothing solid about Poe,” Finn replied.

“Snap, how about your recon patrols?”

“We’ve managed to confirm sightings of where the _Finalizer_ has been, but nothing concrete on where she is or where she’s going,” Snap reported.

“So we have nothing new.”

“No, ma’am,” Snap admitted.

“Dismissed, then,” Leia said, rising.

Finn followed her out of the room. “When are you going to tell them about the full extent of Han’s forays?” he asked her quietly as they walked down the hall to her rooms.

“When they find something.”  
*****

“Where are we going this time, boss?” Jessika asked as Han lifted the _Falcon_ out of the atmosphere.

“Meeting an old friend. I finally managed to get a message to him,” Han replied, flipping switches to get them ready for the jump to hyperspace.

Chewie growled at him.

“Rey said she fixed it,” Han replied.

“We’re not going to blow up and die, are we?” Ben asked from his seat behind his father.

“We’ll see,” Han said.

“That…is surprisingly comforting,” Ben replied.

The _Falcon_ shuddered, but the stars streaked to lines as they jumped to hyperspace without exploding.  
*****

“Where do they go?” Rey asked.

“Concentrate on the drone,” Luke replied.

Rey easily sidestepped two bolts and deflected them back with the lightsaber. She was still wielding Anakin’s lightsaber, but each day she practiced, it felt less like an extension of herself and more like a tool. From what Ben and Luke had told her, it should have been the other way around.

“Ouch!” she exclaimed, having received a jolt to her calf.

Luke didn’t say anything, but his raised eyebrow spoke volumes.

“I know, I know,” she said. She turned the droid off with a flick of her hand, then deactivated the saber.

“What is it, Rey?”

“You know what it is. It’s been five standard weeks, Master Skywalker. They have been torturing him for _five weeks_. You _know_ what it’s been doing to me! We are no closer to finding him than we were the day he was taken!”

Luke nodded for her to go on, noting with silent approval that she holstered her lightsaber before doing so.

“Solo and Jess and Ben keep going out on these secret missions. Finn won’t tell me anything and General Organa just keeps giving my pitying looks. We have to do something!”

“And what would you recommend we do?”

“Stop sitting around! We take the fight to the First Order. We let them know that they can’t just do this!”

“You want them to know that taking the lover of a Jedi was a bad idea,” he said, calmly.

“Yes!” she said, advancing on him.

“You want to rain fire down upon them until there is nothing left.”

“ _Yes_ ,” she fairly growled.

“And do you think Poe would want us to retrieve him at the cost of losing you to the dark?”

Rey froze.

“I know you want to lash out,” he said, putting his hand on her shoulder. “I know this is moving far too slowly for you. But we have to be careful. I know you want to reach out to Poe. I know you want to find him and bring him home. Part of being a member of the Resistance is learning to let others help you. You are an incredibly strong Jedi, but even you can’t do this alone. Not without losing yourself.”

“I don’t _want_ to lose myself, Master Skywalker. I just want to _find_ him.”

Luke pulled her into a hug. “Have faith, Rey.”

Rey held on tightly and wept against his shoulder; not for the first time.  
*****

“That’s a rather large asteroid field up ahead,” Ben commented as they dropped out of hyperspace.

“It’s great cover if you don’t want any First Order patrols to come across you when you’re having a secret meeting,” Han replied.

“Exactly how close to First Order patrols are we?” Jess asked.

“They were just through this sector three weeks ago, so we should be fine,” Han said. “They don’t patrol this area much.”

Chewie grumbled.

“Hey, I didn’t pick the place!” Han protested.

Chewie gave him a sharp reply.

“Wait, how is this my fault?” Ben asked.

“I’ll explain later,” Han said. “Ah, there we are.”

“What in the stars?” Jess asked.

In front of them, one of the largest asteroids rotated towards them and a section…opened up.

“Is this a smuggler’s base?” Jess asked, excited.

“Oh, Leia is going to murder you in your _sleep_ ,” Ben said.

“Quiet, kid, I’m working,” Han said, steering them towards the asteroid.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Ben muttered.

Han carefully landed the _Falcon_ in the asteroid hangar bay. 

“Okay,” Han said, turning in the pilot’s seat. “We’re going to stay on board and they’re going to come to us. I need everyone to keep their heads. This could be…dicey.”

“Because floating out in space looking for Dameron using the Force wasn’t dangerous enough already,” Ben said.

“Um, that was your idea, so you can’t really use that against him,” Jess pointed out.

“Whose side are you on?” Ben asked.

Jess pointed. “Chewie’s.”

“He _shot_ me!”

“You deserved it.”

Han smiled at the familiarity of the argument’s rhythm.

Chewie rumbled.

“It is not déjà vu, Chewie, don’t start,” Jess said.

“I thought you only knew how to swear in Shyriiwook,” Ben said.

“I lied.”

Ben’s response was interrupted by the sound of knocking.

Han reached over and flipped the switch for the ramp. “Follow me,” he said, exiting the cockpit.

Chewie followed immediately, with Jess and Ben close behind after an exchange of raised eyebrows.

They paused to take in the figure standing inside the _Falcon_ , at the top of the ramp. What gave them pause was not the casual clothes of a smuggler, but the deep-hooded robe the person was wearing.

“Oh for the love—Corran, enough with the theatrics,” Han said, exasperated.

The figure pushed the hood back to reveal a handsome man with graying brown hair and green eyes. 

“Just what do you think you’re doing, bringing _him_ here, Solo?” the man asked.

“Now wait just a moment, Corran,” Han began.

He was cut off as Corran pulled out and ignited his lightsaber, the blade glowing silver.

Entranced, Ben stepped forward. The lightsaber’s blade elongated.

“I thought it was a myth,” Ben whispered, reverent.

Corran brought the blade up. “Keep back, slayer.”

Ben froze in his tracks, his eyes widening. 

Jess stepped in front of him. “That’s not who he is anymore.”

“He was Ben Solo when he made the decision to fall. He could fall again. And I have a lot of people to protect,” Corran replied.

“He’s my _son_ , Corran,” Han said.

“That didn’t stop him the last time.”

“He’s not a child this time. And don’t try to pretend you don’t understand that; if you didn’t, you would have broadcast the knowledge that Ben Solo didn’t die. The whole galaxy would know of his fall. But you’ve kept that information to yourself for nearly two decades,” Han argued.

“If I had known _he_ was the Force user I sensed on board,” Corran said, shaking his head.

Jess’ breath caught. “It works,” she said.

“It works,” Han confirmed, smiling at her.

Corran deactivated his blade, but didn’t holster it. “What have you done, Solo?”

“We found a way of masking a Force user's signature. At least, we thought we had. It was a long shot and I wanted to be sure before we mounted a rescue mission,” Han explained.

“So you’ve spent all this time trying to get a meeting with me to test a theory?”

“Well…I was also interested in any intel you could get your hands on. But, yeah, I needed a friendly Force user.”

“The immediate igniting of your saber notwithstanding,” Jess said.

Corran tilted his head to study her. “You’re Pava’s kid, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” she replied, lifting her chin.

“Thought I recognized that smirk. Give your mother my best.”

“You’ll most likely see her before I do. The two of you run in the same circles.”

Han cleared his throat. “Does the Oracle have anything?”

“The Oracle of Odrade is not at your beck and call,” Corran said, with a smirk.

“So they couldn’t find out anything,” Han sighed. Going to his old smuggler contacts—some of whom he _still_ owed favors to—had been his last resort.

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” Corran replied.

“Then what would you say?”

“I’d say we’ve found him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The problem with getting back into a fandom is you start to remember all the characters you loved from the original Extended Universe and sometimes, you just cannot help yourself and have to include them. So, yes, that is Corran Horn from the X-Wing: Rogue Squadron books (among other adventures).


	7. Operation Pathfinder (The Resistance)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plans are made and a pilot is rescued.

“Wann Tsir?” Leia asked.

“That’s what Corran said. They apparently had Dameron on board the _Finalizer_ until just recently, when they moved him to a facility on Wann Tsir,” Han said.

“What kind of facility is on Wann Tsir?” Leia asked Ben.

“It is a supply depot for the First Order, but one that only has a skeleton crew for bi-annual or emergency re-supplies. It has not been regularly used for about a decade,” Ben replied.

“Why not?”

Ben took a deep breath. “Because Qartho Ren took it over as her pet project. It’s her home base when she is not running missions with the Knights.”

“The First Order has turned Poe over to the Knights of Ren?” Rey asked, her expression horrified.

Silence descended on the room.

“You have to tell her,” Luke said.

 _Ben!_ Rey prompted, directly into his mind.

“Your control is getting better,” Ben said, wincing slightly.

“Rey,” Luke scolded lightly.

“It’s all right. I suppose that pause was a bit too dramatic for the circumstances,” Ben said. He turned to meet Rey’s gaze. “Qartho Ren was second only to Kylo Ren in power. In his absence, she has most likely become Master of the Knights of Ren. As such, she would be Snoke’s liaison on the _Finalizer.”_

“What, exactly, are you saying?” Rey asked.

“I’m saying that she has probably been his main inquisitor since he found himself in the custody of the First Order.”

“Then why move him now?” Finn asked.

“I hate to state the obvious,” Han said.

“It’s probably a trap,” Jess finished.

Ben nodded. “It could also mean that the First Order has what they want from him and have turned him completely over to Qartho for her own devices.”

“We need to rescue him. Now,” Rey said.

“We’re working on it, kid. First of all, we’re going to need intel,” Han said, holding up the data stick Corran had given him.

“BB-8, if you’ll do the honors,” Leia said.

The droid rolled over to Han and accepted the data stick, projecting it onto the datascreen on the wall.

“Personnel movements, armaments, schedules…Corran’s network doesn’t fool around,” Finn said, scanning the data.

“How did they get all this?” Rey asked, her eyes lit with hope for the first time in weeks.

“The Oracle,” Leia breathed.

“What exactly is this Oracle?” Rey asked.

“It’s a legend from the early days of the Empire,” Han began.

Jess pointed at the displayed intel. “That says it’s more than a legend.”

“You telling this story, kid?” Han asked.

“After Order 66 and the rise of Palpatine, there were whispers of a powerful shadow broker,” Leia said. “This broker never owed someone, nor incurred debts. They only gathered favors. Somewhere along the way, a name began to be whispered: Odrade. For decades, this network grew in the shadows; its uncanny accuracy led to people calling it the Oracle of Odrade.”

Ben snorted.

“What?” Leia asked.

“You don’t know?” he asked.

“Remember what we discussed about dramatics?” Jess hissed, elbowing him.

“Odrade is ancient Naboo for ‘shadow’. Your powerful shadow broker is literally named Shadow,” Ben explained.

Leia smiled softly. “No wonder Winter always chuckled when she heard it spoken. She always did have a soft spot for ancient languages.”

“Who’s Winter?” Rey asked Han, quietly.

“Old friend of Leia’s from Alderaan. We haven’t heard from her in a long time,” Han explained.

“This is all very interesting,” Snap said, “but how does this help us rescue Poe?”

“BB-8, give us the schematics of the base,” Leia said.

“It looks like only the main building is being used,” Han said.

“And the hangar,” Snap said, pointing.

“I was counting that as part of the main building,” Han said.

Chewie rumbled at him.

“Was too!” Han protested.

“A small force could do it. We still have that stolen First Order shuttle, don’t we?” Finn asked.

“It went with Karé’s group, but I’m sure we could borrow it back,” Kein replied.

Snap nodded. “We get Iolo’s group to attack a mid-level target at the same time. We send in a small incursion crew of our own to Wann Tsir; just enough to get Poe out and onto a shuttle. Three, maybe four, fighters waiting to give cover fire if necessary. After, we all jump to different coordinates and lead anyone tailing us on a merry chase.”

Jess pointed at him with a smile. “ _That’s_ why he’s Red Leader.”

Leia nodded. “It’s a solid plan. Snap, you contact Karé about getting that shuttle back; and Iolo about leading an ambush of some sort.”

Snap nodded and left the room.

Leia turned to the others. “Kein, I’m sure you can scrounge up a few more pilots to help you and Snap cover our incursion.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Kein replied.

“Good. Then we just have to decide on our ground force.”

“I’m going,” Rey and Ben said in unison.

Han met Chewie’s gaze. “And now the real fun begins.”

“Not helpful,” Luke admonished.

“Also not inaccurate,” Han replied.

“Master Skywalker, I am ready for this. You said yourself that my lightsaber form has vastly improved,” Rey argued.

“Yes, but earlier today you were still ready to rain bloody vengeance upon the First Order. Stop smirking, Ben, that’s not something to encourage,” Luke replied.

Ben quickly schooled his features. He was still getting used to the fact that he had a very expressive face; he was used to the protection of a mask.

“As I was saying,” Luke said, turning back to Rey, “it wouldn’t be wise to send you after him. If for no other reason than you don’t have control of your Bond yet.”

“Because you said it was too dangerous to reach out for him!”

“And yet you have still felt flashes of what is happening to Poe, even with Ben and me shielding you.”

Rey turned wide eyes to Ben. “You?”

Ben rubbed his forehead. “It was the least I could do.”

Jess glared at him. “Is _that_ why you haven’t been sleeping well?”

Ben shrugged, sheepishly.

“Oh, we are having _words_ about that later.”

“If Ben has been helping shield me, then he can help me on the planet,” Rey argued.

“No,” Luke said. “Ben can’t go. If this is a trap to lure us out, we can’t let him fall into Snoke’s hands again.”

“But we just told you that Han’s theory about Jess being able to block me worked,” Ben argued.

“It disguised your _signature_ from someone who wasn’t familiar with you. Corran still knew we had a Force user on board,” Han corrected.

“So that’s a no,” Leia said.

“I’ll go,” Finn said. “I know how those outposts work. If we’re confronted by anyone, I can get us through a cursory challenge.”

“Finn is Force sensitive! We’ve been training on sabers together!” Rey protested.

Luke nodded. “But he is not as strong as you or Ben; we’d have a better chance of him going undetected.”

“Especially if I’m with him,” Jess said.

“Exactly,” Luke agreed.

“Just the two of us, in and out quickly,” Finn said.

“That’s a terrible plan,” Kein argued.

“We’ve worked with worse,” Han said.

“That isn’t comforting,” Ben grumbled.

“They should take another pilot. Just in case something happens to Jess. Finn, despite some lessons, is not yet a stellar pilot,” Kein said.

“That’s not a bad idea. This place isn’t a regular detention facility; we can’t use the Wookiee trick again,” Han said.

Leia smiled briefly at him. 

Finn shook his head. “Having a pilot alone on the shuttle leaves someone without cover if questions start getting asked.”

“What if someone comes along and locks up the shuttle so you can’t get back in?” Kein asked.

“For the record, Dameron is not the only one who has stolen a First Order ship,” Jess said.

“I’ll contact Maz, see if she has some stormtrooper armor lying around,” Han said, standing.

“We should get a First Order uniform for Jess. After the last time, people will be suspicious of a stormtrooper moving a prisoner on his own. An officer will lend us an extra layer of legitimacy,” Finn said.

Han nodded and left.

“All right, then. That leaves the rest of us to devise the ground incursion on this,” Leia said.

“Operation Pathfinder,” Finn said.

“Just so.”  
*****

“I hate this plan,” Kein said.

“Really? I hadn’t guessed that from every statement you’ve made since yesterday afternoon,” Finn replied.

Finn was in their shared quarters, meticulously inspecting the stormtrooper uniform they’d gotten, not from Maz, but from Admiral Ackbar’s unit. General Organa said all the trackers had been disabled, but he wanted to be sure for himself. The precise work had the added bonus of distracting him from his lover’s mood. Sometimes being a Force sensitive was not all it was cracked up to be.

“I’d feel better about it if you could take your lightsaber with you,” Kein said.

Finn looked up from his work. “There is nowhere for me to hide it in this uniform.”

“Then have Jess carry it.”

“That would draw attention to us. It’s going to have to be blasters.”

“Have you learned the Jedi mind trick? Anything you can use to protect yourself?” Kein asked, exasperated.

Finn set the helmet aside and stood. He stopped Kein’s pacing with a hand on his chest.

Kein huffed and ran his hand back through his hair. “This plan terrifies me.”

“You grew up listening to the war stories of Wedge Antilles and Tycho Celchu. You’ve heard worse plans; you’ve heard how those worse plans succeeded.”

“None of those plans involved the prospect of me losing you,” he said, his hands resting on Finn’s hips.

Finn cupped Kein’s face in his hands. “I am just as afraid of losing you. It’s not like you’ll be sitting here, safe.”

Kein turned his head and kissed Finn’s palm. “That is not fair.”

Finn drew him in and kissed him. He slid his hands into Kein’s hair, savoring the way the long strands felt against the skin of his hands. Kein moaned, parting his lips at the gentle prod of Finn’s tongue. Finn smiled into the kiss, nipping gently at Kein’s lower lip.

Kein sighed as they broke for air. “You really need to stop starting things you don’t intend on finishing.”

Finn laughed and slid his hands down to cup Kein’s ass. “Oh, I intend to finish it. Once we have Poe back, you and I are going to have a legendary victory dance.”

“You’d better keep that promise, Big Deal,” Kein said, fiercely.

“You can count on it.”

Kein nodded. “All right. Let me help you with this armor. Tell me what I’m looking for.”  
*****

“I hate this plan.”

Jess sighed. “We leave in three hours, Ben. I do not have the time or energy to have this fight with you again.”

“Do you know everything that can go wrong with this plan? Because I do. I know every way that I could lose you. And you know what that would do to me.”

“I do know!” Jess shouted. 

Ben froze. Jess very rarely lost her temper with him; she raised her voice to him even less often.

Jess took a deep breath and ran a hand through her hair. “I need you to stop. I need you to suck it up and deal with this like an adult. I know you’re scared; we’re all scared. But if I’m thinking about getting back to you instead of getting Poe out of that place, none of us are coming home.”

“I don’t know how to do this,” he said, sitting on his bed. 

“This isn’t the first time I’ve gone on a dangerous mission.”

“But it’s the first time you’ve been this close to a Knight of Ren.”

“You were a Knight of Ren for the first weeks I knew you.”

Ben nodded. “And for much of that time, I thought you were a hallucination. This is different. _Qartho_ is different.”

She sat beside him. “Corran’s intel says she’s off-planet.”

“What if they’re wrong?”

“Then we will adapt. I am very good at adapting.”

“How can you be so calm about this?” he asked.

“Because the alternative is unthinkable.”

He rested his forehead on her shoulder. “I still hate this plan.”

She turned and kissed the top of his head. “I know.”  
*****

“All right, Dark Blue. It’s been confirmed that Plan A has commenced. It’s up to us now.”

Jess smiled as she thumbed the comm to reply to Kein’s information. “Thanks, Flyboy. Start your clock; we’ll see you soon.”

“Count on it.”

She turned to look at Finn. “You ready for this?”

“Absolutely. You think they’re still mad at us because we didn’t let them give us a big, emotional send-off?”

She laughed as she keyed in the jump sequence. “Undoubtedly. We’ll just have to make it up to them later.”

Finn nodded. “Let’s do this,” he replied as they leapt into hyperspace.

They had meticulously planned this operation. They would drop out of hyperspace near Wann Tsir and broadcast the stolen identification codes. For all intents and purposes, they were just a shuttle coming in to pick up rations for one of the Outer Rim outposts. According to their intel, the depot was due for a pick-up, and they were close enough to the scheduled pick-up to both not arouse suspicion and not encounter the actual re-supply ship.

“We checked everything for trackers, right?” she asked.

“Three times.”

“And you have the scanner under your armor?”

The plan hinged on Finn being able to carry Poe to the shuttle if the pilot couldn’t move on his own. But in order to do that, they needed to know if doing so would aggravate any internal injuries. According to Ben, Qartho would have seen to it that Poe was kept healthy enough for further torture on the _Finalizer_ , but there was no proof that medical care would be further provided once she had no immediate use for him.

“I’ve got it,” Finn confirmed.

“Okay. Dropping out of hyper in three...two…one.”  
*****

“This feels too easy,” Jess muttered as they crossed the hangar. They had landed the shuttle as shallowly inside the hangar as possible, sacrificing the shorter distance to where they thought Poe was being held for a better chance at an unimpeded takeoff.

Finn kept quiet, his eyes on the stormtrooper awaiting them at the entrance to the main building.

“Papers and identification,” the stormtrooper said.

Jess nodded at Finn, who handed over a datapad they had scavenged from the shuttle. 

“Commander Cassai and ZD-4432,” Finn said.

The stormtrooper looked it over. “Medical supplies only?”

“We’ve suffered losses on the front near Gabredor III,” Jess snapped.

Finn was impressed by the ice in the normally welcoming pilot’s voice.

The stormtrooper snapped to attention. “We’ll see they are loaded.”

Jess sniffed. “Have you a mess? I could use some caff while I wait.”

“Down the corridor; third hall on the left and all the way at the end, Commander.”

She nodded at him and signaled for Finn to follow her.

They walked in tandem down the hallway. Once they heard the door to the hangar hiss closed, they ducked down the hallway they suspected led to where Poe was being held. Although the base on Wann Tsir was mainly a supply depot now, it had once been a fully-functional base, which meant they had cells.

“Odrade strikes again,” Jess breathed as they saw two stormtroopers standing guard outside a door.

“We should send a thank you gift,” Finn replied, just as quietly.

“Halt,” one of the stormtroopers challenged.

“Designation, ‘trooper,” Jess snapped as she and Finn moved to face the stormtroopers.

“LV-0426 and KV-1128. This is a restricted area.”

“I should hope so,” Jess said. “We can’t have just anyone coming in to see the prisoner. Step aside.”

“What prisoner would that be, Commander?” LV-0426 asked.

Jess gave him a smirk. “The one who definitely isn’t behind that door you’re guarding.”

“Apologies, Commander, but only direct clearance from Qartho Ren allows access,” KV-1128 stated.

Jess pulled out a smaller datapad. As the stormtroopers leaned forward to read the screen, Jess and Finn quickly moved, knocking out the troopers with well-placed blows to the sides of their jaws.

“It pays to know someone familiar with the armor,” Jess said as she and Finn quickly dragged the unconscious troopers into a storage closet across from the cell.

Finn nodded as he cuffed the troopers, took their helmets so they couldn’t use the internal comms, and stripped them of their blasters. “It also helps that if you’ve worked one outpost, you’ve seen them all.”

“Let’s go. Rarely used or not, someone is bound to check cameras soon.”

“Got it,” he said, holding up a key card he’d pulled off of LV-0426. “Ready?”

She slung the blaster he handed her over his shoulder. They walked back into the hallway as though they belonged.

Jess held her breath as Finn pressed the card against the reader.  
*****

“No, no, no. Come on, open your eyes. Damn it, Dameron, _look at me.”_

Poe wanted to obey. He did, really; he liked that voice. But he had a sinking suspicion it would be another feint. Another attack on his psyche. He would open his eyes and all he would see would be General Hux or Commander Pandion. Worse, he might have seen Qartho Ren. He kept his eyes closed, partly out of stubbornness, but mostly because even the thought of moving hurt.

“No time to be nice, Finn. Does the scanner say it’s okay?” the voice asked.

“Okay, but it’s gonna hurt,” came the reply.

Poe almost chuckled at that; _hurt_ was such a small word for what he felt all the time. Poe felt himself being moved into a sitting position. He tried to fight back as someone tilted his head to the side, but his limbs were slow to move.

“I am really, really sorry about this.”

Poe barely flinched as an injector was pressed against his neck. Then he gasped, his eyes shooting open from the pain as fire seemed to slam through his veins. The first thing he saw was the worried face of Jessika Pava.

“You with me now, Commander?” she asked, his face in her hands.

He nodded groggily, his brow furrowing in confusion as he took in her attire. She was dressed in the severe black of a First Order officer. “Pava? Are you?”

“It’s a rescue, don’t you recognize the attire?” she asked, nodding her head to the side.

Poe carefully moved his head to see Finn beside him, holding him upright. Finn was back in stormtrooper armor. “I don’t think I can walk.”

“That’s okay, Poe. We’ve got you,” Jess said, softly. “We just had to give you that kick so you’d know it was us and not fight.”

“Can’t fight. Too tired. Too…broken,” he gasped, closing his eyes.

Jess pressed a kiss to his forehead. “It’s all right, Poe.”

“We’ve got to move, Jess,” Finn said.

She nodded and took Poe’s weight as Finn put the helmet back on.

“Just like we talked about,” Finn said.

Jess nodded and allowed Finn to pick up Poe with one arm beneath his knees and the other behind his shoulders, Poe’s head lolling on his shoulder. She grimaced at the pained whine Poe let out as he started to shake lightly in Finn’s arms. She slid her small blaster into Finn’s hand. He adjusted his grip so he could fire beneath Poe’s knees if he had to.

“ _Move_ , Pava,” Finn said.

Jess quickly got to her feet and opened the door. She checked the corridor; the two guards they had incapacitated were still locked away in the storage closet she and Finn had left them in.

She stalked up the hallway, setting her face in a fierce glare to cover the very real fear boiling inside. _Calm, calm, you have to stay calm. Remember what Ben told you: just because they can’t sense your thoughts doesn’t mean you can afford to lose yourself in your emotions._

“Left ahead,” Finn said, his voice modulated by the helmet.

“I remember,” she hissed.

They made it to just inside the hangar before someone challenged them.

“Where are you going?”

Jess whirled sharply on her heel to face the stormtrooper. She sneered at him. “Note the rank, ‘trooper,” she said, tapping the insignia on her chest. “I don’t answer to _you_.”

“Qartho Ren has said no one is supposed to handle that prisoner but her.”

Jess put her hands on her hips. “Then why don’t you run along and find her and question her orders _to her face.”_

The trooper reached for his comm.

“Damn it,” Jess muttered. She quickly pulled out her blaster and shot him. “Time to run,” she said to Finn.

Finn sprinted as much as he was able, heading for the First Order shuttle they’d arrived in. Jess was close on his heels, firing at stormtroopers as they got too close. Thankfully, the hangar was almost empty of personnel. Unfortunately, several pilots were sprinting for their TIE fighters.

“Some suppressing fire on the landing field would be nice,” she barked into her comm as Finn leapt into the shuttle in front of her. She hissed in pain as a shot from a blaster scored across her upper arm.

“We’re working on it, Dark Blue,” came the response.

Jess swore as she closed the loading ramp behind her. She ran toward the cockpit, barely registering Finn strapping Poe into a medcot. 

“Punch it, Flyboy. Or I’m leaving _your_ boy here!” she snapped into her comm as she strapped herself into the pilot’s seat.

“Negative, Dark Blue. Big Deal needs to come home to roost. Please copy that you have Pathfinder.”

“I have Pathfinder. Now be a love and get your ass in gear,” she said, firing up the shuttle’s engines.

“Finn, strap yourself in!” she shouted.

Jess smirked as she launched the shuttle out of the hangar at a higher-than-recommended speed.

“Be ready to—oh, you’re already off,” Kein said.

Finn swore as he slammed himself into the co-pilot’s seat and threw on his crash harness. 

“You wouldn’t have really left me behind,” Finn said as Jess maneuvered them into the air.

“Depends on how quickly Antilles gets…there they are!”

A squadron of X-wings came over the horizon, firing at the hangar and landing field. Jess swore as an exploding TIE fighter on their port side caused the shuttle to shake.

“Watch it, Flyboy. I’ve got precious cargo!”

“You are clear to break atmo, Dark Blue. Leave a light on for us!”

“Copy that,” Jess said, pulling up on the stick to break atmosphere.

Once they were in the black of space, she looked at Finn. “Go,” she said, nodding her head back towards where they’d left Poe.

“You’re hurt,” he replied, nodding at her arm.

“I’ll be fine until we get to the relay. You need to get him into some scrubs so we can jettison the clothes.”

Finn nodded and quickly unstrapped himself. Jess smiled as she heard him stripping off armor as he went.

With a quick entering of the jump sequence, they were on their way back to their first relay point.  
*****

Rey impatiently shifted her weight from foot to foot, watching the sky.

“They’ll be here soon,” Leia said, putting a hand on her arm.

“I know,” Rey said.

“I’m sure Jess and Finn have him well in hand,” Luke said.

Rey glared at him, still not forgiving him for casting his vote against her going on the rescue. They could have used her skills with the Force, she just _knew_ it. She moved a short distance away, BB-8 trailing behind her.

“It’s because you’re so worked up,” a voice said from behind her a few minutes later.

She looked over her shoulder to see Ben standing behind her.

“What?

“You can’t feel Poe because you are allowing your emotions to overwhelm you,” he replied, moving to stand beside her.

“I thought you were opposed to the Jedi way of suppressing your emotions. Violently opposed, one might say.”

Ben smirked. “I would say passionately adamant in my ire for it. But Skywalker is your master, and I know you lean more toward the Jedi ways than I ever did.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning Poe isn’t dead.” Ben closed his eyes. “He is very hurt, and Finn and Jess are very worried. But he is alive.” He opened his eyes and looked at her. “Center yourself and you can feel him.”

Rey closed her eyes and tried to do as he bade. Her mind whirled. He said Poe was alive, and Ben knew better than to lie to her. But he could feel Finn’s worry. And Jess was so worried he could feel her worry, and she was a null. He must be feeling her through Finn; and he shouldn’t be able to do that if Finn was with Jess. And that was scary. It was the scariest thing since she had heard since Poe had been taken. She kept trying to find his warmth, pushing for the feeling that so Poe, but she couldn’t reach it. She couldn’t feel anything. It was terrifying. It was—

She opened her eyes as a warm hand closed around hers. 

“Not like that,” Ben said.

“Then _how_?” she snapped.

He looked into her eyes. “The first sound I remembered when I was coming back to myself was my own laughter. The laughter was from a memory of climbing a Force tree in the Damerons’ back yard. I think I was maybe five. Poe was older and he kept swinging upside-down from branches to make me laugh. He almost fell a couple of times because _he_ was laughing so hard.”

She looked at him, confused.

“When was the first time you heard him laugh?” he asked.

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“It…it was in the mess. Jess had told some ridiculous story involving Poe, BB-8 and a fire extinguisher. It may have been the lack of sleep, but he laughed so hard he was crying.”

“It’s a good laugh.”

“The best,” she said, wiping tears off her face. “Thank you.”

He let go of her hand. “Here they come.”  
*****

“Homestead, this is General Solo. I have Dark Blue, Big Deal and Pathfinder on board. Request permission to land,” Han said.

“Solo, this is Homestead. We’ve got a spot all picked out for you,” Statura replied through the comm.

“Is medical standing by?”

“Dr. Kalonia and a full team are as close to the landing radius as possible.”

“Good. We are going to need help getting Pathfinder off. He is not independently mobile.”

There was a pause on the other end. “Copy that. Bring them in, sir.”

“Solo out.”

Han turned to Chewie in the cockpit of the _Falcon_. “I’m going to go check on the kids.”

Chewie waved him off.

Han made his way to the medcot they’d set Poe up in. “How’s he doing?”

Finn, who had changed into his regular clothes when they met up at the relay, shook his head. “Not well. We need to get him in bacta quickly.”

“Go wait near the ramp. As soon as we land, get it open.”

Finn nodded and hurried away.

“Pava?”

“I’m fine, sir,” she said, nodding at the field dressing Finn had thrown on her arm. She was still in the First Order uniform pants, but had stripped down to the tank beneath so Finn could treat her. Blood was starting to soak through the bandage. Han sighed inwardly; that would not go over well with his son.

Poe began to stir on the bed.

“Easy, Poe. We’re almost there,” Jess soothed.  
*****

It took everything Rey had to not rush into the Falcon as soon as the ramp lowered. But she knew Poe was injured and she knew she would only be in the way inside, so she waited for the medical crew to retrieve him. 

As soon as the gurney touched the ground, she ran for it, trying to keep up with the rapid-fire chatter of the medical personnel. 

“Please!” she shouted to Dr. Kalonia.

The doctor nodded and one of the other medics shifted slightly so Rey could squeeze into a spot along the gurney. Poe’s eyes rolled to look at her.

“He’s convulsing!” Kalonia shouted.

Rey kept pace with them as they ran into the base. “I’m here,” she said to Poe, taking his hand.

Poe started to scream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *ducks shoes* You guys didn't think it would be that easy, did you?
> 
> Eagle-eyed readers will note chapter count has gone up. This is because I decided to do a chapter of deleted scenes. Because I deleted a lot of scenes from the last two chapters.


	8. Turning White & Senses Dying (The Resistance)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poe is back home among the Resistance. But his ordeal is not yet over...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from _Into the Fire_ by Thirteen Senses.

“What is wrong with him?” Leia asked.

“He was tortured by a Knight of Ren and a First Order general for several weeks,” Ben replied, dryly.

Leia shot her son a fierce look. “I understand that you are still in a mood about who went on the rescue mission, but this is not the time to work out your feelings. If you can’t be helpful, you can leave.”

Ben bowed his head and slid down in his chair. 

“Now, Dr. Kalonia, if you would give us your report.”

The doctor took a deep breath before looking at the people assembled around the table. General Organa was at the head of the table, staring down at her. On the general’s right was Rey, who was looking both devastated and mutinous, despite the hand Master Skywalker had on her shoulder. On the general’s other side sat Han Solo and Chewbacca. Ben sat by the Wookiee, casting the occasional glance at Snap and Kein, who were sitting beside Luke.

“Commander Dameron is in a bacta tank, and I anticipate he will most likely remain there for three days. He has suffered numerous lacerations, broken bones and internal injuries. Many of these injuries were exacerbated by the manner of his escape.”

Finn winced.

“However, it is my understanding that the exacerbation could not be helped. A few of the wounds were infected; those seemed to have been caused recently. I anticipate the bacta and a round of antibiotics will clear those up. He will have to do substantial rehab; his muscles showed evidence of repeated electrical shocks. The bones in his left wrist were crushed, so we’ll have to keep an eye on his mobility there.”

“Meaning he might not fly again,” Rey said, quietly. Her soft tone was contradicted by the light behind her exploding.

Dr. Kalonia didn’t flinch, as that was nothing compared to impact the young Jedi’s emotions had had on her medbay earlier. Rey’s fear and anger at being forced out of medbay had caused several lights to explode and monitors to be knocked offline.

“He might not fly again,” Kalonia admitted. “But that is the worst-case scenario and not my top priority at the moment.”

“What is the top priority?” Leia asked.

“You all saw what happened when Rey touched Commander Dameron on the tarmac.”

“He could have been screaming at anything,” Finn protested, hating how weak the argument sounded.

“True. And at that moment in time, I was less worried about the screaming and more about the convulsions. I thought perhaps an increase in his intracranial pressure was causing them.”

“He has head trauma?” Luke asked.

Dr. Kalonia nodded. “Quite a bit of it, but his pressure is within limits. I left Binx with Commander Dameron and he will alert me if anything changes. However, I do not believe his ICP is what caused the convulsions.”

“What did?” Han asked.

“She thinks it was me,” Rey bit out, and the lights flickered.

“Rey,” Luke admonished.

“I do,” Dr. Kalonia admitted. “I noticed that Dameron’s convulsions began to lessen the closer we got to the surgical suite. At first, I thought it was because the seizure had run its course. Now, I am not so sure.” She paused. “I am sorry, but it seems that Rey’s proximity is what was causing the convulsions.”

The room erupted in questions before a roar from Chewie quieted everyone.

“How?” Leia asked.

“I’m not sure.”

“Qartho,” Ben said.

“How could she do something like that? And don’t say because she’s evil,” Leia said.

“There are many things which can be done with the Dark Side of the Force,” Luke replied.

Ben rolled his eyes. “Jedi have also been known to manipulate people’s minds,” he reminded his uncle. “However, Master Skywalker is not entirely wrong; and Qartho has always had a special affinity for the things she can do to someone’s mind. She is a deft hand at torture, and her mental wiles have always worked better in conjunction with her physical techniques.”

“Are these techniques you taught her?” Rey asked.

Ben straightened in his chair. “Some of them, yes. But she had a shockingly ruthless background before we met.”

“So that’s twice you’ve tortured him, then.”

“Rey!” Finn said, aghast.

“Poe has been tortured for _weeks_. None of you would let me look for him. Master Skywalker wouldn’t let me try reaching out to help him. And now your student has made it so I can’t _touch_ the man I love. I _will not_ apologize for my anger.”

“And she shouldn’t have to,” Ben stated.

“Let’s all just take a moment, why don’t we?” Snap asked. He turned to face Ben. “Exactly what is it that you think this Qartho Ren has done?”

“Given her proclivities, I’d say she’s implanted a conditioned response in him. If he gets close to Rey, he has a negative physical reaction which increases in strength the closer she gets to him,” Ben explained.

“Can you undo it?” Leia asked.

“I have the ability and knowledge to do so, but I can’t.”

Rey nearly leapt across the table at him. Luke reached up a hand and held her in place with the Force.

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t; I said I _couldn’t_ ,” Ben said, as Luke pushed Rey back into her seat.

“Jess isn’t here, so I’ll say it: stop with the kriffing dramatics and tell us what’s going on!” Kein said.

Ben turned and looked at Finn. “During the rescue, did Poe ever go into convulsions?”

“No.”

Ben narrowed his eyes at him, giving his mind a gentle push with the Force. Finn glared at him.

“Watch yourself, Solo,” Kein warned.

“Just getting Finn to remember more critically.”

“He started shaking when I picked him up. And I think he whined,” Finn said.

Ben nodded. “She tied the trigger to known Force-users.”

“How did she know Finn is Force-sensitive?” Kein asked.

“Because she had weeks to tear through his brain and learn everything about Poe’s life, kid,” Han said.

“Considering his mild reaction to Finn, I’d say Qartho programmed his reactions to correlate with the strength of the Force user. Finn isn’t as strong as Rey, so the reaction was milder. Was he conscious for long?”

Finn shook his head. “He passed out pretty quickly.”

Ben nodded. “And the shaking stopped.”

“Yes,” he agreed. 

“Does that mean I can get close to him if he’s asleep?” Rey asked.

“Perhaps, but if he wakes up and sees you, it could harm him,” Luke replied.

“I’m going to guess you need him conscious to undo whatever it is that was done to him?” Leia asked.

“He needs to be awake so we can try to find out exactly what Qartho did,” Ben agreed.

“So we need a Force-user familiar with mental manipulation whom Poe doesn’t know is a Force-user. Great,” Snap said.

Rey looked across the table at Han. “Call your smuggler friend. Jess said he was a Jedi. Call him and make him come here and help.”

Luke rubbed his forehead. “I’m not sure Corran has the skill set we require.”

Rey growled at him.

“Han, please reach out to Corran. If nothing else, maybe Luke or Ben can walk him through what we need done.”

“Come on, Chewie. You, too, Rey. Maybe a personal plea will help.”

Rey nodded and sprang to her feet to follow them out of the room.

“Snap, Kein, go back to medical with Dr. Kalonia. Relieve Jess and make sure she gets some rest. I want one of you with Poe at all times,” Leia said.

“And make sure she’s gotten that arm treated,” Ben said.

Dr. Kalonia rolled her eyes at him before following the two pilots out of the room.

“You left Jess with Poe because she’s a null,” Luke said, once it was just him, Ben, Finn and Leia in the room.

“Yes. If the Force causes such a dire reaction, maybe knowing Jess is there will be soothing to him. It was the best I could do.”

“Poe should be out of the bacta tank tomorrow. Hopefully, he can tell us something once he’s awake,” Leia said.

“You’ll need to let someone else debrief him,” Finn pointed out.

“Damn it,” Leia said.

“We should also try to figure out how close someone can get to him. Is it just line of sight or actual proximity?”Luke asked.

“I’m unwilling to put Poe through trauma to find out. Until further notice, any known Force-user needs to stay away from him. No contact.”

“I am not going to be the one to tell Rey that. Seems like something that should come from her Master,” Ben said, rising to take his leave.  
*****

Poe rose slowly to consciousness. Once he realized he was waking up, he tried to keep his breathing even, just in case he was being watched. 

_What is that sound? There’s no sound in my cell. Only my own breathing and the faint hum of engines. And even those were gone recently. Just my breath and my pain._

It was then that he realized the agonizing pain that had been his constant companion for days—weeks? Longer?—was…lessened. He could still feel the wounds; could feel the invisible scars on his muscles. But it was slightly…muffled. Maybe they had him drugged again. But no, they had never drugged him with something that _lessened_ his pain before. Maybe it was just another trick by Qartho, but if he thought hard, he hadn’t seen her in a while. It had been even longer since he had seen Commander Pandion and her harsh blue gaze.

 _Focus!_ He mentally shook himself, still trying to present as asleep. He remembered Jess and Finn in his cell, dressed as members of the First Order. He remembered shaking as Finn picked him up. He remembered the whine of pain he couldn’t suppress. But then he had blacked out. Was it possible it was real? Usually, Qartho’s hallucinations let him get a little closer to freedom before crashing down on him.

“Rey,” he whispered, unbidden. He remembered seeing her; remembered pain and screaming. 

When no immediate repercussion came from his slip, he laid there, taking in the sounds and breathing the air. His throat hurt with the distinct burning left after using a rebreather in a bacta tank. Bacta…he remembered floating in the bacta tank. He vaguely remembered opening his eyes and seeing Snap.

He let out a shuddering sigh; it had been real, he was safe.

“Poe?”

Poe slowly blinked eyes open to see Jessika sitting beside his bed. “Jess,” he whispered.

“You look like shit,” she said.

Poe choked on a laugh. “Now I know I’m home.”

Jess pressed a button on the machine beside his bed. “The doc will be in here soon. Do you want me to raise the bed so you can have a drink? Or should it just be ice chips? Do you remember what Dr. Kalonia said?”

Poe was confused; how was he supposed to remember what Dr. Kalonia said?

“Give the man a moment, Pava.”

Poe turned his head, wincing slightly, to see Kein sitting on the other side of his bed.

“He can have water as soon as he answers my questions,” Dr. Kalonia said as she entered the room.

Poe winced as the lights in the room brightened.

Jess slid her chair back to get out of the doctor’s way.

“How are you feeling, Commander?” Dr. Kalonia asked as she started to check his vitals.

“Awful. But alive.”

“Good.” She checked his eyes with a light. “Now follow my finger.”

Poe did as she asked, gauging the doctor’s satisfied huff as him passing the test.

She took his hands. “Squeeze my fingers. Good. Wiggle those toes for me. Good.”

“What’s the verdict?” Poe asked, his voice raspy.

“Your left hand isn’t as strong as I’d like, but I think that’s because of the breaks, not anything neurological. Your blood work shows the infections are under control and, as Pava said, you look like shit,” Dr. Kalonia said. “I’m afraid that means no doughnut today.”

“And I thought I had escaped the torture chamber,” he said, digging deep for his snark.

Dr. Kalonia smiled. “Torture would be if I let Pava and Antilles eat doughnuts in front of you. But I am going to insist you stay here in medical for a few more days, which I know is your own personal hell, so I do apologize.”

Poe leaned back in the bed. “Not anymore, Doc.”

Dr. Kalonia nodded. “I’ll get someone to come in with your toiletries. You can at least get your face shaved.”

“No!”

Jess, Kein and Dr. Kalonia stared at him in shock. 

Poe took deep breaths. “Please. They…they kept shaving me so I wouldn’t know…how long was I gone?”

“I’ll have someone bring you something to eat. Pava, let him have that water,” Dr. Kalonia said, then took her leave.

Jess poured him a cup of water, then helped him hold it to his mouth.

“How long?” he repeated when he was done drinking.

“Five weeks,” Jess replied.

“Where’s Rey?”

Jess and Kein exchanged a look.

“Where is Rey?” he asked, rubbing his temple. He was starting to get a headache.

“She’s safe. She’s here on the base. She just can’t come in here,” Kein said.

“Why not?”

“Do you have a headache?” Jess asked.

“I have an everything ache, Jess. But I want to see Rey.”

“You can’t,” she replied. “I’m sorry, but you can’t. You are still healing and if you see her…”

“If I see her, what?”

“That headache will get worse,” Dr. Kalonia said as she came back in. She rolled a table over so it settled above Poe’s lap, then set a tray of food on it.

“Qartho Ren did something to your mind, Poe,” Jess began.

Poe’s eyes widened in fear. He remembered Qartho taunting him about being a sleeper agent. He looked down at his hands, wondering if he had actually laid hands on a woman he’d known his whole life. 

“General Organa. Did I hurt the general?” he asked, frantically.

Jess and Kein exchanged another look.

Jess moved the table so she could sit on Poe’s bed, at his hip. “The general is fine, Poe. You haven’t hurt anyone. You haven’t been _capable_ of hurting anyone.”

“Where are we? No, wait, don’t tell me. It’s not somewhere I’ve been, right? Because Qartho…she…”

Jess squeezed his hands. “Ben thought of that already. The general sent the Resistance to the four corners of the galaxy. No one is somewhere you know. I’ll tell you where we are if you’d like.”

Poe shook his head. “Not until I know I’m really me.”

“What do you mean by that, Commander?” Dr. Kalonia asked.

“Qartho Ren said I was a sleeper agent. Until we can prove otherwise, I should be isolated.”

“You mean you want us to put you in a cell,” Kein said.

“Medically speaking, I can’t recommend that,” Dr. Kalonia said. “But there are surveillance devices in this room. Rey and the general have been keeping an eye on you,” she said, pointing at a device near the ceiling.

“If it will make you feel better, we can post a guard at the door,” Kein said.

Poe nodded. “It would, actually. I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

Jess squeezed his knee. “You won’t.”

Poe leaned back against the pillows, closing his eyes. “‘M tired.”

“Sleep, buddy. You’re safe. We’ve got you,” Kein said.  
*****

“You should get some sleep, too,” Luke said, putting his hand on Rey’s shoulder.

“I just want to touch him.”

“I know.”

Rey pressed her fingertips to the screen. “He’s in so much pain. It’s almost crushing me.”

“Rey, have you opened the Bond back up?” he asked, worried.

She nodded. “I couldn’t see a reason not to. Snoke can’t track me through it. And Poe doesn’t seem to react to it. I just…I need to touch him _somehow_.”

Luke sighed, sitting beside her. “But it makes you vulnerable to what’s going on in his mind. If he relives what happened to him, you’ll feel it.”

“Are you saying I’m playing with fire, Master Skywalker?” she asked, breaking her gaze on Poe’s image to look up at him.

“I am saying you are putting your hand into the fire. And I know you are strong, but I also know you think you’re stronger than you are. That hand is going to peel and char, Rey. You have to take it back.”

“I can’t,” she said, a sob breaking her voice. “He’s here. He’s _right there_ and I can’t touch him. I could kill him with a kiss. Do you know what that’s _like_?”

“No. No I don’t. But I do know pain. And I know loss. And this, Rey? This is not loss.” 

Gently, he took her chin in his hand and turned her head so she could look at the monitor and watch Poe sleep. 

“You are right, he is here. He is not lost. Your Bond is not lost. What the two of you have is _not lost_. I will help you get him back. I promise.”

Rey nodded, crying silently, and let Luke fold her into a fierce hug.

Not lost.  
*****

When Poe awoke the next time, it was to a familiar lullaby.

“Were they bad?” he asked.

Jess smiled sadly at him. “Maybe I was singing it for me.”

“And I thought I was a bad liar.”

She snorted. “Don’t you remember the dreams?”

“No. I have a feeling that’s a good thing.”

“If the noises you were making were any indication, I’d agree.”

“What time is it?”

“Mid-morning. Kein had the night shift.”

“That would explain the weird dreams about blonde maidens.”

Jess laughed. “Only Kein would consider the tale of Iona Fair with Flaxen Hair a lullaby.”

An indignant beeping noise sounded from beside Jess.

“Of course, beg pardon, Beebs. BB-8 has been here since they found out you had regained consciousness. They were very put out that you went to sleep before they got here,” Jess said.

“Buddy,” Poe said, smiling. He tried to push himself up, wincing at the twinge in his wrist.

“You could just ask,” Jess said, pushing a button that raised his bed so he was sitting upright.

“Where’s Rey?”

“Sleeping. We’ve a pool on whether it was exhaustion, something Finn slipped in her drink or a suggestion planted by Master Skywalker. You want in?”

“BB-8?” he asked.

BB-8 trilled in binary.

“I’m putting my credits on Finn.”

Jess lifted an eyebrow. “Your droid is a much better liar than you are.”

“BB-8!” he said, shocked.

The droid just rocked back and forth, and Poe could have sworn they were chuckling.

“It’s not their fault. Without you here, they’ve spent far too much time with Finn and Kein,” Jess explained.

“Why hasn’t BB-8 been with Rey?”

“Rey has been having a hard time controlling her emotions. If she’s not squirreled away meditating or working with Master Skywalker, she’s haunting the command center. Even Finn and Ben are getting wiped out trying to keep up with her training. BB-8 decided surveillance from afar was the better part of valor.”

BB-8 trilled sadly.

“It’s okay, buddy. I understand,” Poe said. 

“How are you feeling?” Jess asked.

“Terrible. But I have been worse, so I’m not going to complain too much.”

Jess smirked. “Wait until you see what they’re bringing you for lunch.”

Poe groaned as theatrically as he could. “Have they figured out if I’m really me yet?”

“Well, I missed the big meeting, but Snap and Kein tell me that Qartho Ren—which, do they just put papers with lots of random letters into a helmet and then pick them out to see what their name is?”

Poe laughed, then moaned as it pulled at his side.

“Sorry. But I really do need to remember to ask Ben about that. Anyway, according to Ben, Qartho Ren put a suggestion in your head that causes you to react badly to the presence of a Force-user.”

“And?”

“And the stronger the Force-user, the worse your reaction to them.”

“That’s why Rey isn’t here.”

Jess nodded. “That is the only reason why.”

Poe took a deep breath, then let it out on a sigh. “What do we do? Because I am not going the rest of my life without her.”

“Master Skywalker suggested setting up tests to see the extent of the compulsion.”

“When do we start?”

“It was quickly vetoed by General Organa.”

Poe glared at her.

“I would find that glare more compelling if you weren’t sweating at just the thought of being in the same room with Rey.”

“Jess.”

“We are working on it. Han has friends connected to the Oracle of Odrade.”

“I thought that was a myth.”

“Nope,” she said, popping the ‘p’. “ _And_ he knows a Force-user. It’s just a matter of time before Rey is sneaking into your hospital bed to cuddle.”

“You are a terrible person.”

“And yet, I’m still your best friend, which says more about you than it does about me.”

Poe laughed until he started coughing. It was good to be home.  
*****

“General Organa, there is a ship requesting permission to land,” C-3PO said.

Leia looked up from the datapad she was reviewing. She may have gotten her pilot back, but the Resistance’s cause moved on. She had to coordinate other missions to maintain their assault on the First Order. 

“Do they have the current codes?” she asked.

“Yes. But before entering orbit, the captain wishes to speak to you.”

“Put them through.”

There was a spate of static before a voice came through. “Hello, Princess! You guys have room at the table for an old friend?” 

Leia didn’t know whether to sigh or smile, so she did both.

“As long as you clean up your own mess this time,” she replied.

“Aw, Princess, I’m hurt.”

“Keep calling me Princess and you will be.”

The man laughed. “Point taken, General. I heard through an old friend that you needed a hand. Is it all right if I park next to the old bird?”

“Affirmative. We’ll see you shortly.”

“Thank you, General.”

Leia turned to Finn. “Let Han and Luke know that Lando Calrissian will be joining us. If either of them tries to make a run for it, you have my permission to tackle them.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I ended up increasing the chapter count for this because this chapter was starting to become a bit too long in the tooth, with the second half being very expositiony and backstory-filling. So I took a natural splitting point so that I would get something up before my vacation.
> 
> I am at Emerald City Comic Con for the next 5 days, but the laptop is going with me, so I will be writing. In fact, I'm still working on the next chapter tonight. I am hoping to get the next chapter up mid-week of next week. Then the final chapter, which will be strictly Rey/Poe. 
> 
> I will still have the last chapter that is posted (Eleven) be deleted scenes, playlists, etc.
> 
> Thank you all _so much_ for your patience. I really hope this was worth the wait.


	9. Desecrater (The Resistance)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which help arrives and a whole lot of exposition and twists are dropped.

“The threat of brute force wasn’t necessary,” Luke said as he stood next to his sister.

“The two of you are standing here, aren’t you?” Leia said.

They were standing on the tarmac near the _Falcon_ , waiting for Lando to bring in his ship. Han, Chewie, Finn and Snap were with them.

“I’ll be damned,” Snap said as the ship came into view.

“What?” Han asked.

“That’s the ship that took off from the bazaar at Khubeaie.”

Leia glared at Han. “You reached out to a friend who is being chased by the First Order?”

“ _All_ our friends are being chased by the First Order,” he replied.

“Point,” Finn muttered under his breath.

“He’s not alone up there,” Luke said.

“Lando rarely flies solo,” Han said, smirking.

Chewie grumbled at him.

“Yeah, yeah. But _I_ do it because I like the company, not because I can’t,” Han argued.

“Debatable,” Leia said, quietly.

“Is it a Force-user?” Finn asked.

“Yes,” Luke said, quietly. 

“Corran?” Han said.

“No. I’ve never felt this presence before.”

Finn stepped so he was slightly in front of Leia. Han smirked at her affronted look.

“I hardly think Lando has brought someone here to cause me harm, Finn,” she said.

“Didn’t he once sell you guys out to Vader?” Snap asked.

“That was a long time ago. He had his reasons,” Han said.

“Not comforting,” Finn replied.

Chewie grumbled as the ship landed.

The ship’s ramp was lowered not long after the engines started cooling down.

Han smirked as Lando strode down the ramp, a cape dramatically swaying behind him. Another figure followed him, shorter and wearing a hooded cloak. 

Finn noted that the other figure had a blaster on each hip, a knife in their boot and a short sword in what looked like a custom holster against their thigh.

“Lando, you old reprobate,” Leia said, walking past Finn to hug the smuggler.

“Princess General,” he said, wrapping his arms around her.

“And who’s your hooded friend?” Han asked.

Lando looked up at Han, then took in Finn standing beside him. A look of sadness flickered over his face before he let Leia go and glared at Luke.

“Lando?” Leia asked, watching him stalk over to her brother.

“You selfish bastard,” Lando said, before punching Luke in the face.

Luke, taken completely off guard, fell to the ground as Lando raised his fist to hit him again.

“Han!” Leia said, motioning for him to step in.

Han held a hand up. “Hang on; I want to see where this is going.”

“Do you think you’re the only person in the galaxy with a sister?” Lando snarled at Luke.

“What?!” Luke, Han and Leia said in unison.

Lando stepped back and looked at Han. “I’ve been waiting a long time to do that.”

“Care to explain?” Leia asked.

“Cerise?” Luke asked as he gained his feet.

“You slept with more than one of my sisters?” Lando growled.

Luke held his hands up. “No, no. Just Cerise. But I didn’t…”

“You didn’t know, I know,” Lando said, waving him off.

“Then why?” Leia asked.

Lando pointed at Finn. “Because if Luke hadn’t decided to run off and have an existential crisis, maybe the First Order wouldn’t have gotten their hands on _my nephew.”_  
*****

“What did I miss?” Kein asked quietly, skidding to a halt next to Snap. 

As the welcome party had made their way from the tarmac (and the many witnesses to what had happened), Snap had sent Kein a message that he should get to Leia’s office as quickly as possible. All he had told him was that a Force-user had arrived and he would want to see what came next. Kein had left Poe sleeping under Dr. Kalonia’s watchful eye and had sprinted through the base.

Snap had, helpfully, stayed in the doorway to wait for him.

“Lando Calrissian is a Force-user?” Kein asked, taking in the people in the room. “Since when?”

“No. The person with him,” Snap replied, pointing.

Kein did a double-take; he hadn’t noticed the cloaked figure standing in the corner of the room.

“You did, however, miss Lando punching Luke in the face and, oh, by the way, Finn is apparently Lando’s nephew and _Luke’s son_.”

Kein glared at his friend. “You should have led with that.”

“You two should stop muttering in the doorway and get in here,” Han called to them.

The two pilots ducked their heads and entered the room, Snap pulling the door shut behind them. Kein took in Leia, Luke and Lando arguing in harsh whispers at the other side of the room and made a beeline for Finn, who was sitting with his head in his hands.

“You holding up there, Finn?” he asked, putting his hand gently on the back of Finn’s neck.

“I have a family,” he said, his voice hollow. “People I belong to.”

Finn crouched next to him. “Of course you do. You have us.”

“No, but…someone who knew me before everything.”

“It looks like they’re going to be at it for a while. Why don’t you two go find a quiet place to talk? You let us know when you’re ready to have a conversation with your uncle and, um, your father,” Han suggested.

Finn nodded. “That…that might be good.”

Kein and Finn made their way to the door.

“Where are you going?” Lando asked, concerned.

“I need some time,” Finn said. “You can find me later.”

Lando nodded.

“Finn—”

Luke’s entreaty was cut off by the door slamming open, Rey barreling into the room with Ben and Jess close behind her.

“What in the nine hells happened to you?” Snap asked, catching Ben’s black eye and bloodied lip.

“He got in my way,” Rey said as she fairly ran over to Lando. “Can you help us?”

Lando watched Finn leave before turning his attention to the young Jedi. “I brought someone who can.”

“He needs to leave,” said the hooded figure. Hands reached up to push back the hood, revealing the face of a young woman a little older than Rey. She had long dark hair that appeared mostly untamed, save for braids threading through it at seemingly random intervals. She a broad, dark swath of what appeared to be war paint across her face, covering her eyes.

Blue eyes that were currently glaring daggers at Ben.

“May I ask why?” Leia asked.

The young woman turned to look at Leia. “Do you not know what he has done?” She paused, considering the older woman. “Of course you do. Mothers always know.”

“That’s enough, Olivia.”

They all turned to stare at Jess, who had called out to the woman.

Olivia’s smile was harsh. “You would protect him, sister?”

Jess stood in front of Ben. “You are not so old that I can’t take you to task for bad manners.”

“Sister?” Leia asked.

Lando grimaced. “Yeah, I was planning on working up to that. I got distracted by seeing my nephew.”

“Any other surprise relatives you’ve got hidden on that ship?” Han asked.

“Would you believe me if I said no?”

“I might.”

“Ben, leave,” Rey said, sharply, cutting through the tension.

Ben opened his mouth to argue, but closed it upon seeing the desperate look on Rey’s face. “I’ll just go to medical about my eye, then.”

“We’re not done, Olivia,” Jess said before following him out.

“You just can’t help but bring drama wherever you go, can you?”Han asked Lando.

“It’s a gift.”

“Please!” Rey cried, and Leia’s armchairs shook.

Olivia gave her an assessing look, then turned to Luke. “I’d expect your padawan’s temper to be better controlled.”

“It’s been a trying few weeks,” he said.

“Can you help Poe?” Rey asked.

Olivia tilted her head to the side, studying Rey. “If what Lando has told me is accurate, I believe I can. It won’t be easy, but it is something I am capable of doing. I’ve had to do something similar in the past.”

“I feel a ‘but’ coming on,” Han said.

“ _But_ I cannot guarantee he will be exactly the same as he was once I’m done.”

“What do you mean?” Leia said, putting an arm around Rey’s shoulders to comfort the young woman.

“The Knights of Ren,” Olivia fairly spat, “leave wounds wherever they go. I can remove the compulsion, but there will be scars. Some part of him will always remember that he was once terrified of you. He may never become the man you remember. Can you live with that?”

“Yes,” Rey bit out. “Anything is better than this.”

Olivia nodded. “Then I will help him.”

“Oh, thank you!” Rey said, rushing to her and enveloping her in a tight hug. “Thank you, thank you.”

Olivia stepped back from her. “But I have a price.”

“Anything,” Rey said.

Olivia looked again at Luke. “So passionate, this one.”

“Olivia, we talked about this,” Lando said.

“You knew when you brought me here what the price would be. Odrade herself told you our demand.”

“What is it that you want?” Leia said, gently drawing Rey back to her side.

Olivia’s smile was cold. “I want the man you call Ben Solo. The man we call Desecrater.”  
*****

“Sister?” Ben asked as he watched Jess search through the shelves in the small exam room. It wasn’t fully stocked, but it was far enough from Poe’s private room that they didn’t have to worry about disturbing him.

“Do you think it’s possible that Rey and Finn are both Skywalker’s children, or does Snap owe me a substantial amount of credits?” Jess replied. “Where are the damn ice packs?”

“Sister?” Ben repeated, wishing—not for the first time—that he could read Jess’s mind.

“A-ha!” she said, grabbing a packet off a shelf and snapping it to activate the chemicals inside. “This should help.”

Ben waited as she gently placed it against his swollen eye, placing one of his hands on her hip to keep her from moving away. “Sister?”

“My mother found her; Olivia was a war orphan. This squalling bundle that had no name and no one but us. We were raised together for a time.”

“What happened?”

Jessika met his eyes. “The massacre at Skywalker’s temple.”

Ben searched his memory. “She was there?”

Jess shook her head. “No, but—” she cut herself off as her comm chirped. “Pava,” she said into it.

“We need you and Ben back here,” Han said.

Jess met Ben’s eyes. He nodded.

“We’re on our way, sir.”  
*****

“Luke Skywalker is your _father_ ,” Kein said, incredulous.

“You keep saying that, and it keeps being the truth,” Finn said, flexing his hands against his thighs.

“Sorry, sorry,” Kein asked, edging closer to him. 

They had passed Ben, Rey and Jess in the hallway as they had left Leia’s office, so Kein had suggested they head for medical to keep an ear out for Poe. It had the added bonus of being a part of the base most people stayed away from, so they wouldn’t be disturbed. Kein had swiped some chairs and pulled them into the hallway, close enough that they could hear if Poe called out for someone, but where Poe could also not see Finn.

“How did he not know? _Did_ he know?” Kein asked.

Finn took Kein’s shoulders in his hands. “I don’t know. I am trying to wrap my brain around the fact that my father is the most famous Jedi in the galaxy. Can we make this about me for a bit?”

Kein pulled him into an embrace, allowing Finn to bury his face against his neck. “Of course we can, love. What do you need from me?”

“I know you should be watching Poe, but can we go to our room? Can you just hold me while I quietly freak out?”

Kein smiled, stroking his hands up Finn’s back. “Of course. You can even freak out loudly.”

“Ass,” Finn said, before pressing a hard kiss to his mouth.

“You would think making out in medical would be a biohazard,” Snap said from behind them.

“You’re just mad that you owe Jess credits,” Kein replied, keeping Finn in his arms.

“Not necessarily. Luke could still be Rey’s dad. You could be her big brother!” Snap said, clapping Finn on the shoulder.

Finn choked.

“Let’s get him used to having a dad and uncle before we start adding siblings, yeah?” Kein said, glaring at Snap.

Snap raised his hands. “Got it. Why don’t you guys get out of here before Lando and Luke come looking? I’ll keep an eye on Poe.”

“The person with Lando; can he help Poe?” Finn asked, turning to face Snap.

“He’s a she, and apparently Jess’s sister, and there is a raging argument going on as we speak. All of those are concerns for other people to deal with right now. You have your own issues,” Snap said.

“And I suggest we go start on those while everyone else is distracted,” Kein said, pressing a kiss to Finn’s forehead.

“You’ll let us know if anything changes?” Finn asked Snap.

Snap nodded. “I’ll let you know the moment Poe can have all the visitors he wants.”

“Thank you.”

“No worries, Big Deal,” Snap said before letting himself into Poe’s room.

“We should go. I’m not ready for what’s coming,” Finn said.

Kein nodded and drew him against his side as they walked to their room.  
*****

“And again, absolutely not!” Leia was shouting as Ben and Jess entered the room.

“I have a feeling we missed something important,” Ben said.

Rey ran over to him, grasping his biceps so hard he could feel her short nails cutting into his skin through the fabric of his shirt.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t want to ask you, but I have to. Please.”

“What’s going on?” Jess asked.

Ben looked at Olivia. “Do you need my help to fix Poe?”

“In a manner of speaking,” she replied.

The two of them stared at each other for several moments before Ben nodded, sadly. “I’ll do it,” he said.

“Ben, no!” Leia said.

“It’s my decision,” he snapped. “If you help Poe, you can have what you want,” he said to Olivia.

Rey hugged him. “Thank you. Oh, thank you. I’m sorry.”

“It’ll be all right,” he said.

“What have you done?” Jess asked, looking between him and Olivia.

“Later. Right now, Olivia has something she needs to do,” Ben replied, not meeting Jess’ eye.

Olivia nodded and turned to Leia. “General, if you would lead me to medical, I will see what I can do to help your pilot.”

Leia set her jaw, but led the way out of the room.  
*****

“Poe.”

Poe opened his eyes slowly. He breathed a sigh of relief when he realized he was still in his room in the medical unit. He turned his head, smiling at the familiar presence of Snap sitting beside him. Snap’s gaze was aimed at someone standing at the foot of Poe’s bed.

Poe followed the gaze and gasped. “No!” he said, low but forceful. He tried to push himself further back into the mattress, but stopped his movements as he gasped in pain.

“Look closer,” the woman said. “Calm down and _really_ look.”

Poe did as she asked and looked beyond the blue eyes that reminded him of Commander Pandion. He took in the differences in appearance between this woman and the commander. Wild dark hair instead of sleek blonde; a long cloak and casual clothes instead of a First Order uniform; and a sense of wild calm instead of icy efficiency.

“I promise: I am here to help. My name is Olivia. Olivia Pava,” she said.

Poe looked at Snap.

“It’s real. She’s real. She’s here to help; Lando Calrissian brought her.”

“Jess has a sister?” Poe asked, bewildered.

Olivia smiled. “That is the wrong question to ask. The correct question is, ‘How many sisters does Jessika have?’”

Poe turned his puzzled gaze to Snap.

Snap shrugged. “Calrissian also has sisters, one of whom Luke Skywalker had a relationship, and conceived Finn, with.”

“How long was I asleep?” Poe asked.

“Long enough that I was able to arrive to help you,” Olivia said.

Poe looked at Snap. Snap, who had been his friend for years. “Can I trust her?”

Snap squeezed Poe’s shoulder gently. “Yes.”

Poe nodded. “All right, then. What do you need me to do?”

Olivia shrugged her cloak off and set it on a chair. Snap’s eyes widened as he saw a lightsaber in a holster at the small of her back. She shook her head slightly at him. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name earlier,” she said to Snap.

“Commander Snap Wexley.”

“Poe, do you want Snap to stay? Would it make you feel better if he was with you?” she asked him.

“Yes,” he replied, without hesitation.

She walked over to stand beside Poe and reached out to raise the back of his bed, putting Poe in a sitting position.

“Has anyone explained to you what Qartho Ren did to you?”

“She put a suggestion in my head that causes pain and convulsions when I get near a Force-user.” He met her eyes. “The love of my damn life is a Jedi, so you can understand why I need your help.”

Olivia smiled. “She is quite powerful.”

“How are you going to help? Are you some kind of psytech specialist?”

She slowly reached out and put her hands on his face, her thumbs on his sharp cheekbones and fingers covering his temples.

“Not quite,” she said. “This is going to hurt.”

Poe nodded, then shouted as he felt her mind press against his. He tried to twist away from her, but felt himself held against the bed by an invisible pressure. He closed his eyes against the pain.

“Shh, shh, I know. Almost there. Just hold on for me, Poe,” she said.

“You’re hurting him,” Snap said.

“Not for much longer. There you are. I found you.” She took a deep breath. “Poe Dameron, I need you to look at me. _Now_!”

His eyes snapped open, his pained gaze meeting hers.

“The only water in forest is the river,” she said, her voice low and fierce.

As he processed the sentence, Poe screamed. The weeks of torture came rushing back through him: moments of agony he had forgotten; wounds he had not realized were still fresh. The agony passed over and through him, until there was only a sense of peace. He saw Rey’s smile and, for the first time in days, the thought of it didn’t hurt.

Olivia let go of Poe and he slumped back against the bed.

“Is he all right?” Snap said, reaching out to check his friend’s pulse even as his eyes scanned the monitors.

“What the hell have you done to my patient?” Dr. Kalonia said as she ran into the room.

“He will be fine,” Olivia said, stepping away from Poe. “He just needs some rest. And I have a few Force users I need to talk to. You’ll stay with him?”

“Of course he will,” Dr. Kalonia said.

“Thank you,” Snap said.

Olivia nodded, collected her cloak, and swept out of the room.

“Bloody Jedi. Always making an exit,” Dr. Kalonia muttered.  
*****

“What did you do?”

Olivia startled at the question. She paused to look at Jess. “You being a null really is a pain.”

“Surprisingly, not the first time I have heard that.”

“How can you be so protective of him? After what he did?” Olivia asked as they walked back to Leia’s office.

“You don’t know the whole story.”

“And you do?”

“I know more of it than you do,” Jess replied.

“Well, we’ll soon fix that.”

Jess grabbed her arm. “You can’t take him.”

Olivia shrugged her off. “He already agreed to my terms. He has to answer for what he has done.”

“He _is_ atoning for it.”

“Then this will just speed things up,” Olivia said, before opening the door to Leia’s office.

“How is he?” Rey asked, rushing to her.

“He is unconscious. He will need to sleep for a while to recover. When I removed the compulsion, it also removed a block that was protecting him from all the memories of his trauma.”

“What did you do to him?” Luke asked.

“I’ve spent a long time studying the tactics of the Knights of Ren. I’ve learned techniques to try to undo the damage they can do to a person’s mind,” Olivia replied.

“So it’s something you’ve done before,” Leia said.

“To varying degrees of success.”

“And you think Poe will be a success?” Rey asked.

“It helps that I knew a trigger phrase that had been implanted to protect him. It allowed me to release the compulsion more easily.”

“Why would Qartho Ren implant a trigger phrase to undo her work?” Han asked.

“She didn’t.” She looked at Leia. “Talon did.”

“Wait, Leia’s spy had access to Poe while he was being tortured? Why didn’t they just help him escape?” Rey demanded.

“Because that would have meant exposing Talon to the First Order. We need her in the First Order more than we needed Poe back,” Lando said.

Rey growled at him.

“How do you know about Talon?” Leia asked.

“Who do you think led Talon to contact you?” Lando returned. “She was ours before she was yours.”

“She?” Leia asked.

“Commander Pandion is Talon,” Olivia explained. She turned to look at Jess. “Hadn’t you wondered what happened to Miranda?”  
*****

“How you feeling, buddy?” Finn asked.

“I hurt all over and I’m exhausted. But I’m not being sent into convulsions by your presence, so I think I’ll be all right,” Poe replied, nodding at Finn’s hand where it rested on his wrist. “How are you?”

Finn waved him off. “We’ll have time for all of that later. I was just the test dummy to see if it actually worked. Right now, there’s someone else who _really_ needs to see you.”

“Thanks. Think you can keep everyone else away for a while?”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Finn said, grinning. He quickly left the room.

The door had barely closed behind him before it was opened again.

Rey froze on the threshold, staring at Poe. He still had the beard and his eyes had dark circles beneath them, but he was smiling at her. She felt tears come to her eyes and she put a shaking hand over her mouth to keep from shouting in joy.

“Look at you, standing at my doorway,” he said, holding his hand out to her.

She let out a sob and ran to him, throwing her arms around him. “I love you,” she whispered against his neck as he held her tightly to him.

“Oh, my girl,” he whispered, wrapping her in his arms as best he could. She felt warm and _right_ , just as he remembered. He lifted her head and pressed his lips to hers gently, keeping the kiss just this side of wildly passionate. After a few eternal moments, he released her lips and rested his forehead against hers.

“I’m home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, so many notes:
> 
> 1\. Shakespeare is credited with creating the names of Jessica, Olivia and Miranda. I am a classics major; I could not help myself.
> 
> 2\. Yes, the trigger phrase is from _Doctor Who_. I could not help myself.
> 
> 3\. The first thing Poe says to Rey is an incorrectly-heard lyric from _Never Had_ , sung by Oscar Isaac. _This entire fic exists_ because I misheard the lyric "Hope that's you, standing at my doorway" as "Look at you, standing at my doorway". It was going to be a fluffy, post-injury fic. And then it grew and I could not help myself (have you caught onto that theme yet?)
> 
> 4\. The epilogue is going to be all Rey/Poe reuniting goodness. There will be a sequel fic which will delve more into the Oracle of Odrade, what they want with Ben Solo, and why the Pava sisters are so badass. I hope you come along for that ride; the main pairing will be Jess/Ben, even though they will be apart for most of the fic (hmmm...I'm sensing a pattern here...). However, that fic will not start posting for a while because I want to get a good deal written, so I can do fairly regular updates. I promise some one-shots in the meantime, though.
> 
> 5\. Finally, Odrade is not actually Ancient Naboo for "shadow"; at least, not to my knowledge. It is the surname of a badass Bene Gesserit sister, Darwi Odrade, from the last two _Dune_ books. My cat is named Darwi, after her. You guys have caught on that I'm a giant nerd, right?


	10. Know My Heartbeat (Poe & Rey)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poe is home safe. He and Rey spend some quality time reconnecting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title is a (correctly heard) lyric from "Never Had", as sung by Oscar Isaac on the _10 Years_ soundtrack.

Rey had lived a hard enough life to know that the happy endings she read and saw in holos very rarely looked like actual life did. Still, she had never given up hope that her family would come back for her; that the home she so desperately wanted would find her. And while the hope that her family would find her remained, she was perfectly happy with the family she had found, and built with love, tears and trust. She had found as close to a happy ending as one could find in wartime. She had found the love of her life and, after a building a friendship (and overcoming fears of abandonment and Poe’s ingrained sense of what a gentleman _should_ be), she had made him realize that she loved him as much as he loved her.

And then he was taken.

She got him back; broken, battered and aching, but home. Her heart had broken again when her mere presence caused him such pain, but they had gotten past that, as well.

The first night after he was really, truly back, she was allowed to crawl into his bed next to him. He was still attached to several sensors (just to be absolutely sure, Dr. Kalonia had said), but had been able to shift enough to allow her slim form to fit in the bed with him. She fell asleep with her nose pressed against his neck, breathing in the scent that was _Poe_ , cutting through the antiseptic and sweat and bacta. Her palm rested over his chest, protecting his strong heartbeat, and gently moving with the rise and fall of his every breath.

“I missed you,” Poe had breathed before falling asleep, his lips pressed to her forehead.  
****

Poe was released from the medical unit two days later, although Dr. Kalonia was still skeptical of the after-effects of his de-conditioning. He was almost glad for the turmoil going on with Ben’s imminent departure with Lando Calrissian and Olivia Pava, as well as the barely-controlled storm that was the Finn-Luke Skywalker revelation. It allowed him to re-acclimate without having to be bombarded by everyone he knew. He knew his friends wanted to throw a welcome-home party, but he wasn’t ready for that many people at once. Snap had understood this through a silent conversation consisting mainly of raised eyebrows and headshakes: the party would wait until the Resistance had found a more permanent home.

“Do you think Finn will take Luke’s name, or his mother’s?” Poe asked as he and Rey curled up on the couch in their quarters. 

“Are you asking because you’re genuinely curious or because you want to know if Snap has a pool going?” she replied.

“Of _course_ Snap has a pool going; he’s Snap. And Jess is in no condition to start one, what with Ben leaving and the two of them _still_ trying to figure themselves out.”

Rey snuggled closer into his arms, her thumb rubbing over his wrist. “I don’t think you and I have any room to judge their progress.”

Poe kissed her. “Ah, but we moved much further, faster, than they have.”

Rey hummed happily against his mouth. “True. But we didn’t have to get past brainwa—” she cut herself off sharply, blushing.

Poe hugged her tightly. “It’s all right. Don’t censor yourself; I intend on going on just as I always have, and I don’t want you to behave any differently. We will work through anything that comes our way, yeah?”

Rey nodded against his shoulder. She lifted her head and smiled at him before kissing him passionately. She gasped as she felt a warmth blooming behind her eyes. She pulled back and stared into his eyes.

“Did you just--?”

“Use the Force to open our Bond fully? Yes.”

“How?”

He lifted a hand to run his fingers through her hair as he replied. “I think it’s a side effect of what Olivia and…Talon did,” he replied. He found it easier to refer to the Resistance spy by her codename, rather than the name he had known her by. He pushed back the automatic shudder.

“Is it permanent?”

“Well, I don’t think I’ll be picking up a lightsaber any time soon, but I have been more _aware_ of you in a way I never was before.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Aware how?”

He ran his hand over her leg, soothing her. “I can feel your emotions. If I concentrate, I can sometimes hear your thoughts.”

She gave him a devilish grin. “And what am I thinking right now?”

He laughed, squeezing her knee. “You are thinking that the full-beard Jedi look is weird on me.”

She tugged on the thick beard. “Well, its lushness probably really irritates Ben, so it might be worth keeping it just to compare to his patchy efforts.”

“Is he trying to grow it again?”

“It was more like he was so busy trying to keep me distracted he didn’t always remember to keep up with his grooming.”

“And you?” he asked, shifting her in his lap so his fingers could reach the hem of her trousers.

She gasped in mock horror. “Poe Dameron, are you inquiring about a lady’s private refresher time?”

Poe twisted and dropped her down onto the couch, coming to rest atop her with his hips resting in the cradle of her thighs.

Rey fairly purred and slid her hands up into his wild curls. “Well, I guess we can tell Dr. Kalonia that you can manhandle me without any problems with your wrist.”

Poe smiled and dipped his head to kiss her, his tongue gently seeking entrance to her mouth. Rey was unwilling to deny him anything and let him languidly kiss her, his hands stroking gently over her body.

He lifted his head and reached up with his left hand to ensnare a tendril of hair between two fingers. He twisted his wrist to curl the hair around his fingers.

“Dexterity is pretty good, too,” he said, smiling down at her.

“Not bad. But I’d like to see how you do with tools in a heated environment.”

Poe licked his lips. “What exactly did you have in mind?”

Rey lifted her legs and crossed her ankles over his lower back. She took his hand in hers and kissed his palm.

“I’ll do yours if you do mine.”

Poe chuckled and rubbed his nose against her cheek. “You don’t have a beard.”

“Nooo, but I may have neglected my legs in the past few days.”

“Really?” he asked, reaching back to tug up her pant leg. His fingertips brushed against her ankle, making her squirm beneath him.

“Really. So, how about my offer?”

Poe closed his eyes and rested his face against her neck.

“You can say no, Poe.”

“I know,” he whispered. Rey had been very good about making sure he always had a choice. She sometimes even asked questions she _knew_ would normally get a ‘no’ from him, just to reinforce it.

She ran her fingers through his hair, scratching lightly at his scalp, smiling when he hummed in contentment. She put her free hand under his chin and lifted his mouth to hers for a kiss.

“I am going to go run a hot bath. You can join me if you want. Help me get those hard to reach spots on my calves,” she said, sliding out from under him.

“And my beard?”

She shrugged. “You can bring that, too.”

He laughed as he watched her walk out of the room. He heard the sound of water rushing into the tub; noting absently how it sounded different than the shower. Once he had been cleared to come to their rooms, he had shut himself in the refresher and had sat in the shower, hot water pounding down on him, until the steam had started to make breathing difficult. He had felt panic coming up his spine, but an attack was staved off by Rey opening the refresher door, airing out the room as she talked about his various towel choices. He had waited until she left the room to get out of the shower. He had almost cried with relief when he had seen she had left a shirt and fresh shorts for him. He wasn’t quite ready for her to see his all new scars yet.

With a sigh, he pulled himself off the sofa and made his way in to the refresher. He stopped in the doorway to watch Rey leaning over to check the water temperature. She had slipped on one of his shirts and he was pretty sure that if she leaned over just a bit more, he’d be able to tell if…

Yep, no underpants. He was pretty sure his heart stopped for a moment there and was very glad he was no longer hooked up to Dr. Kalonia’s monitors.

“You should test the temperature,” she said, turning to face him. Her mischievous smile indicated she knew exactly where he had been looking.

“You are a terrible person and I’m seriously considering banning you from spending time with Jess.”

He walked over to her and took her in his arms, kissing her hungrily. 

“But then who will help me pick out lacy undergarments?”

“Me! I will help you pick out all your undergarments!”

“But what if I want it to be a surprise?”

He groaned and pressed his face against her neck, nipping lightly at the skin beneath her ear.

“Well?” she asked, giggling at the feel of his beard against her skin.

“I’m open to case-specific negotiations.”

She laughed and gently pushed him away. “Check the water temperature; I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

He shot her a puzzled look. “I thought you were going to take a bath and I would just help you with the tricky parts?”

“Ah, but if you’re just sitting on the side of the tub, I have to twist to uncomfortable angles. I have a better idea. Check the water,” she said, pushing him toward the tub.

He did as she asked and slid his hand into the water. It was hot, but not so much that he would be uncomfortable sitting in it. “Is that eucamint?” he asked, catching the scent.

She nodded. “It’s good for relaxation. Ben suggested it; he said it helps him.”

“Well, if it can relax _Ben Solo…”_

“Oh, just turn the water off and get in. Let me know when you’re ready,” she said, kissing him gently before moving to the door.

Poe turned off the water and contemplated the bath. He carefully stripped out of his pants and shorts, but his fingers hesitated at the hem of his t-shirt.

_You can leave it on; I’ll bring you a dry one with your pajamas._

Poe snorted; he could grow to like the sound and feel of Rey’s soft voice in his head. He climbed into the bath, hissing in pleasure as the heat of the water caressed his skin. He slid down in the water until he was completely submerged, then moved back up, resting his head against the wide ledge at the back of the tub.

“Are you all settled?” she asked.

“Can’t you tell?”

Rey stepped into the room, a pile of clothing held against her chest. “Hmm…that shirt leaves _just_ enough to the imagination. It’s a good look on you.”

Poe huffed a laugh as he realized his shirt was sticking to his chest above the water.

Rey hummed as she set the clothes down on the counter. She reached into a cabinet and pulled out a bowl of shave cream, a brush, razor and another bowl. She filled the bowl in the sink, then walked over and set it down on the ledge behind Poe. She kissed the tip of his nose quickly before returning to gather the rest of her supplies, setting them beside the bowl.

“What do you have planned, my love?” he asked.

“Wondrous things. Move up a bit.”

He slid forward in the tub and she stepped into it behind him. He had thought she would sit down in the tub, but she instead settled on the ledge, before pulling him back so he was settled against the back of the tub. She gently lifted her legs and rested her thighs on his shoulders.

“Which leg would you like to do first?” she asked, flexing her toes.

Poe laughed and kissed her right knee. “Hmm…this one, I think. That way I can test my fine motor skills with the brush and razor.”

“And if your wrist starts to bother you?”

“We’ll switch to the other, where all I have to do is hold your lovely leg with it.”

“How very tactical of you,” she said, leaning forward to dip the brush into the water. She pulled back quickly worked up a lather in the small bowl before handing the brush to Poe.

“How long have you been appropriating my shaving supplies?” Poe asked as he brushed the lather over part of her lower leg. 

“A few months. Do you have any idea how amazing shaving your legs this way feels?” she asked as he handed her the brush.

“Yes. It’s why I shave my face this way,” he said, taking the razor from her. He tried not to concentrate on the feel of her soft skin under the hand holding her leg. He didn’t want to accidentally cut her.

“You wouldn’t deny my legs feeling as good as your face, would you?”

Poe leaned forward and pressed his lips the freshly-shaved patch of skin. “I wouldn’t deny you anything that made you feel good.”

She took the razor from him and set it in the bowl before handing the brush back to him. “I know.”

They continued on task, not speaking as they lost themselves in the motions and gentle touches. Poe finally finished with her right leg, leaning forward to kiss the back of her knee before finally releasing her leg.

“How is your wrist?” she asked.

Poe twisted his wrist around and flexed his fingers. “Feels fine.” He tilted his head back to look up at her. “You feel brave enough to let me try your other leg?”

She trailed her fingers over his face, smiling. “Of course. Otherwise, I’ll be walking around all uneven.”

Poe laughed and held his hand up for the brush.

“Kiss first,” she said, leaning down to kiss him.

“Was that for luck?” he asked as he pulled away.

“Maybe.”

He laughed and took the brush from her, being careful with his grip on her leg. He was pleased that he managed to shave her other leg without a twinge in his wrist.

“Mmm…very well done,” Rey said, leaning forward to run her hands over her legs. “I may have to get you to do this more often.”

Poe turned his head and kissed her thigh. “It’s nice to know I have a fall-back career.”

Rey huffed and ran her fingers through his hair and down over his neck. She shifted her legs so she could rub his shoulders. “Don’t talk like that.”

Poe slid forward and turned, settling on his knees as he faced her. “I was making a joke,” he said, running his hands over her smooth legs.

“It’s not funny,” she whispered, leaning forward to take his lips in a passionate kiss.

Poe groaned as her tongue slid into his mouth. She pulled him closer and he went, wanting to be as close to her as possible.

She giggled and pulled back.

“What?” he asked, breathless.

“I suppose it’s not so bad,” she said, flitting her fingers over his beard. “It tickles, but it’s a lot softer than your usual scruff.”

Poe lifted an eyebrow. “Is it now?”

“Poe,” she said, breathless, recognizing that hot look in his eyes.

He grinned at her, his hands on her hips urging her to lean back on her elbows on the ledge. His hands moved over her hips to slide under her bottom, urging her to lift up so he could pull the hem of the t-shirt up over her thighs.

“Poe, you don’t…”

“Shh,” he breathed against her inner thighs. His hands were gentle as he pushed her legs open, revealing her to him. He looked up at her and smiled before licking gently against her folds.

“Poe!” she shouted, one hand going into his hair as she braced the other against the ledge.

Poe was lost in the taste and feel of her for several moments before he realized his knees were sliding against the bottom of the tub. Reluctantly, he took one hand off her thigh and braced himself on the lip of the side of the tub. He kept his other hand on her hip, dragging his thumb over her hipbone, knowing it would drive her mad. He explored her thoroughly with his mouth, re-learning the spots that made her gasp and the motions that made her shout. He gently suckled at her clit, knowing that it would bring her to completion quickly.

“Wait, wait,” she gasped, her hand moving from his hair to dig into his shoulders.

“Too much?” he asked quietly, noting the reddening on her thighs.

“No, please, can I?”

He smiled; he had missed how she failed to remember how to use words when she was in the throes of passion.

Rey gave him a half-hearted glare. She didn’t need words when they had their Bond.

Poe gasped at the image that appeared in his head—of Rey slipping down off the ledge and onto his body.

“Yes,” he said, sliding his hands to her hips to help guide her down onto him.

She hissed slightly as he slid into her—it had been a while since they had been together. Poe tried to slow her down, but she kissed him hard and shifted until he was fully seated inside her.

“Maker, _Rey_!” he gasped against her throat.

She laughed with joy, stripping off her shirt and lifting his hand to cup her breast. She gasped as he flicked his thumb over the hard nub of her nipple.

“Feels so good,” she gasped. “Missed your hands on me.”

Poe froze. He wanted to feel more of her skin against his, slick with the warm water. But he just couldn’t…he wasn’t…

“Shh, my pilot,” she said, kissing him softly. “Whenever you’re ready. For now, please, love me,” she whispered with an insistent twist of her hips.

Poe gasped into her mouth, biting at her lip as he began thrusting up into her.

Rey wrapped her legs around his waist, breaking the kiss to smile down at him. “Yes.”

Poe bent his head and took her nipple in his mouth, alternating between suckling gently and nipping at the tender flesh with sharp teeth. He put his hands on her hips, guiding her as she rode him.

“I love you,” he whispered against her throat, his voice tightening as his body raced to completion.

“I love you. I’m yours. _Take me_ ,” she cried out, burying her face against his throat.

Poe’s thrusts became uneven and he shouted her name as he came, filling her. He took a moment to catch his breath before finding her clit with his thumb, circling it gently until she clenched tightly around him, biting his cloth-covered shoulder to keep from screaming out her release.

“Rey, Rey, Rey,” he whispered, a mantra against her skin as he got his breathing under control.

“My Poe,” she replied, pressing kisses to his face.

He laughed softly.

“What?” she asked, leaning back to look at him.

“I was going to wait. I wanted to be sure I was whole before I made love to you.”

“Oh, my Poe,” she said, framing his face in her hands. “You may never be whole, and that doesn’t concern me in the slightest. You’re still my Poe. You will always be _my Poe.”_

“Even with the scars?”

She kissed him passionately. “Always mine,” she said against his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had not anticipated posting this so soon, but it practically wrote itself (I do not know what it says about me that marathoning the first 4 seasons of _Game of Thrones_ is really good background noise for writing). 
> 
> I had meant this to just be snuggly fluff, but then, well, you guys have met Rey and Poe, so you know how this goes. I also discovered I apparently have a shaving kink. Huh.
> 
> All that's left of this fic is the Deleted Scenes chapter, which will be up in a few days. They need some cleaning up.
> 
> And yes, the story of Ben with the Oracle, and Finn and Luke's story, are forthcoming. Finn and Luke may be a one-shot; Ben's will be multi-chaptered.


	11. Sundries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is just a collection of deleted scenes from the fic, as well as what I was listening to as I wrote it. Nothing terribly exciting, but I liked most of these scenes and snippets too much to throw them away.

**Chapter 6: Finn & Kein**  
_This scene was cut mainly for pacing. I love Finn and Kein (and I have so much planned for them), but this is overall Poe & Rey’s story, and it just seemed I was looking for an excuse to add more Finn/Kein._

“I have an inappropriate question,” Kein said, sitting down beside Finn.

“I am shocked,” Finn said, looking up from BB-8. The little droid had been desolate without Poe around, and Finn could often be found entertaining the droid by trying to learn binary. It was progressing better than his Shyriiwook lessons with Chewbacca, but that wasn’t saying much.

Kein knocked their shoulders together. “Not _that_ kind of inappropriate question. I wouldn’t ask one of those in front of BB-8. Wouldn’t want to scar the poor droid.”

BB-8 made an extremely rude noise at him.

“You do realize they're Poe Dameron’s droid, right? Besides, you say wildly inappropriate things in front of your astromech all the time.”

“Ah, yes,” Kein said, wrapping an arm around Finn’s shoulders. “But you forget that Mynock was my father’s astromech first. He learned all his bad habits from Dad.”

“I don’t buy that, BB-8. Do you?”

BB-8 beeped back at him.

“They say no,” Finn told Kein.

Kein glared at BB-8. “Go play with Snap, Beebs. I have to talk to Finn.”

BB-8 raspberried him, then rolled off.

“That was rude. BB-8 misses Poe.”

Kein moved his arm off Finn’s shoulders and put his hand on his knee. “I know. We all miss Poe. But I needed to ask something and I didn’t want BB-8 to hear.”

“Oh?” Finn said, his heart sinking. He had a feeling Kein was about to ask a question _he_ didn’t want to hear, either.

Kein looked around, but no one was close enough to overhear them. “I need to ask about the First Order and you’re the only one I know who can give me the right insight.”

“You mean you’re too afraid to ask Ben.”

“‘Afraid’ is such a strong word. How about ‘tactically wary’?”

Finn snorted. “Now you sound like your father.”

“How do you know what my father sounds like?”

“I may have watched some holovids of his speeches.”

Kein raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

Finn blushed and coughed to hide his embarrassment. He had wanted to get a feel for Wedge Antilles before he met the man. And, undoubtedly, blurted out upon meeting him that he was sharing a bed with the senator’s son.

“You had a question?” Finn asked.

Kein’s expression sobered. “Why haven’t they killed him?”

Finn’s eyes widened. He had figured he wouldn’t like the question, but he hadn’t quite been expecting _that_. “What?”

“They’ve had him for five weeks, Finn. Why haven’t they killed him? I would think that the Supreme Leader would want to broadcast the death of a key member of the Resistance.”

Finn put his hand over Kein’s and squeezed. “General Hux knows what Poe Dameron means to this Resistance. He may want Poe dead, but when they kill him, he won’t do it publicly. Hux knows the value of a martyr and he won’t risk turning Poe into one.”

“You said ‘when’.”

“If we don’t find him first, they will kill him. You know that.”

Kein sighed. “Yeah, but I didn’t want to hear it.”

Finn stood up and tugged Kein with him. “Then let’s go to command and see what we can do to find him before that happens.”

Kein smiled, intertwining their fingers. “Now that’s an insight I can get behind.”

 

**Chapter 6: Luke & Rey**  
_This scene was cut for flow and because it really never fit in with the narrative. I liked the Rey-Luke bonding aspect of the scene but, felt that relationship would better be served in another fic._

“We can’t seem too interested or it will put more focus on Poe,” Luke explained.

“I don’t understand. If more people know, doesn’t that give us more eyes looking for him?” Rey asked.

“It might. But there may also be bounty hunters out there crazy enough to go after him and retrieve him. But the price to hand him over will be exorbitant.”

“I’ll pay it,” she replied.

Luke gave her a small smile. “The Resistance’s funds are limited.”

“I survived most of my life as a scavenger. I’ll find a way.”

“But you don’t have to, Rey. 

**Chapter 7: Qartho Ren & Commander Pandion**  
_Oh, I loved this scene. So much. But to put it early in Chapter 7 would have given part of the twist of “Pandion is the spy” away, so I had to stow it. I may be able to use it in a later fic, but just in case…_

“You’ve betrayed me, Ari,” Qartho said.

Commander Pandion stiffened. Qartho never used her first name where anyone could overhear.

“My Lady?” she asked, keeping her voice steady.

“All this time, I thought I knew you through and through. Yet now I come to find out you have kept a part of yourself hidden from me.”

“Why would you say such a thing, Master Ren?”

Qartho stepped closer to her. “Really, Commander, did you think I wouldn’t eventually find out?”

“I wasn’t aware I was keeping something from you that you wanted to have.”

Qartho’s smile widened. “I always want information, Ari. You know that. And you, my darling girl, are in possession of rather _interesting_ information.”

Pandion’s lips curved up in a smile. “You’ll forgive me, Master Ren. I did not know you were unaware of General Hux’s private affairs. I would have informed you if I didn’t think you would find it beneath you.”

Qartho’s gloved hand shot out to wrap around Pandion’s throat. “Information I can use against him is something I will _eternally_ be interested in. Try not to fail me so utterly again.”

Pandion managed a quick nod as she gasped for breath.

Qartho threw the other woman against the wall as she released her, then strode down the corridor.

Pandion ran her fingers lightly over her throat, pulling her thoughts and emotions under control.

_That was close._

**Chapter 8: Leia & Dr. Kalonia**  
_I decided to go another way with the reveal of Poe’s injuries and his reaction to Rey. But I love Leia and Dr. Kalonia, so I couldn’t just toss this._

“How is he?” Leia asked Dr. Kalonia.

The doctor looked over at the bacta tank where Poe was floating. “I’ve seen worse. But not by much.”

“Was he able to tell you anything?”

“No. He called for Rey, but every time she got near him, he started to convulse. If she actually got close enough to touch him, he started screaming. I finally had to remove her from the room so I could treat him.”

 **Chapter 8: Poe, Jess & Kein (psytech thread)**  
_Again, this was cut because I decided to move the narrative in a different way when it came to healing Poe. Also, I didn’t want to write myself too much into a corner for when I return to_ Without Effect.

“That is enough, Commander Pava.”

Poe turned his head to look at the man who had spoken. He stood in the doorway, a datapad clutched against his chest.

“I thought we were going to break the psytech news gently,” Jess said.

“Mr. Skorob followed me,” Dr. Kalonia said, shrugging.

Jess glared at the man. “You’re an ass.”

“I am well aware of your feelings about me, Miss Pava.”

“It’s Commander. And if you couldn’t realize Ben thought I was a hallucination, how can we expect you to be of any help to Poe?”

“I believe even Mr. Solo would agree I did help him. Eventually.”

“What is going on?” Poe asked through clenched teeth.

Jess moved the table and sat on the bed at Poe’s hip. “Ben told us about some of Qartho Ren’s…proclivities. We’re working on getting someone who can undo what she did, but right now the best we have is Mr. Skorob. If you want to talk to him.”

“I want to talk to Rey.”

“You can’t,” Dr. Kalonia said, sadness in her voice.

Poe’s eyes widened in horror. “Are you afraid I’ll hurt her?”

“No,” Kein said. “But we know that seeing her will hurt you. So you’re going to have to put up with just me, Pava, Snap and the medical staff for now.” 

 

 **Playlist**  
Girl from the North Country ~ Bob Dylan  
Never Had ~ Oscar Isaac, off the _10 Years_ soundtrack  
Into the Fire ~ Erin McCarley (single)  
Into the Fire ~ Thirteen Senses (single-acoustic)  
A Sorta Fairytale ~ Tori Amos, off _Scarlet’s Walk_  
Sunshine (Adagio in D Minor) ~ John Murphy (single)  
Together or Not at All (The Song of Amy and Rory) ~ Murray Gold, _Doctor Who Series 7_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone so much for their support and affection for this fic. I thoroughly enjoyed writing it, and reading every single comment. You guys rock, and this 'verse will be back soon.

**Author's Note:**

> I have a tumblr, which is mostly me re-blogging Oscar Isaac photos, stuff from the amazing peeps at Optimystical Studios and other fandom things. I will try to be good about posting updates about the fic, including when I think I'll have stuff done to post and useless info such as "what were you listening to when you wrote that terrible, heartbreaking scene, you monster?" Feel free to stop by at @lyssawrotethat on tumblr.


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